Automate Repo Updates

When standards, commands, or skills evolve on Packmind, your repositories don’t pick up the changes on their own — someone has to run packmind-cli install to refresh the artifacts on disk. This page shows how to delegate that step to a scheduled CI/CD job: the job runs packmind-cli install on a cadence you choose and opens a pull/merge request whenever artifacts change, so your team reviews updates instead of remembering to fetch them. Use this if you maintain several repositories, or your playbook evolves often. Manual packmind-cli install is fine if a single maintainer touches the repo and updates are rare.

How it works

Scheduled trigger

A cron-scheduled CI job runs in your repository (typically nightly).

Sync with Packmind

The job runs packmind-cli install, which pulls the latest standards, commands, and skills.

Open a PR/MR for review

If anything changed, the job commits to a dedicated branch (packmind-cli-update) and opens a pull/merge request targeting your default branch. If nothing changed, the job exits silently. If a PR/MR already exists for that branch, new changes are appended instead of duplicating it.

Set up the workflow

GitHub
GitLab

Prerequisites

A Packmind API key (Packmind → your profile → API keys)
Repository admin rights to add a secret and a workflow

Add the workflow

Create .github/workflows/nightly-packmind-update.yml:

name: Nightly Packmind Artifacts Update

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * 1-5' # Every weeknight at 02:00 UTC — adjust to your timezone
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  update:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 15
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          ref: main # replace with your default branch if different
          fetch-depth: 0 # required so the action can diff and commit
      - uses: PackmindHub/update-packmind-artifacts@v1
        with:
          packmind-api-key: ${{ secrets.PACKMIND_API_KEY_V3 }}

Configure the API key secret

In your repository: Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret.

Secret name	Value
`PACKMIND_API_KEY_V3`	The API key from your Packmind user profile

The _V3 suffix is the current API key format used by Packmind — keep the name as-is.

Common action inputs (branch name, PR title, target branch, Node version) are documented on the Marketplace listing.

Verify it works

Don’t wait for the next scheduled run. Go to Actions → Nightly Packmind Artifacts Update → Run workflow and trigger it manually. Within a minute or two you should see either a new PR titled chore(packmind): nightly artifacts update, or a successful run with the message No artifact changes.

Prerequisites

A Packmind API key (Packmind → your profile → API keys)
Maintainer or Owner access to create a Project Access Token

Add the workflow

Place this file at the root of your repository as .gitlab-ci.yml. If you already have one, merge the nightly-packmind-update job into your existing stages and jobs.

stages:
  - update

nightly-packmind-update:
  stage: update
  image: node:22.17.0
  timeout: 15 minutes
  variables:
    GIT_DEPTH: 0 # full history required to commit and diff
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"      # manual "Run pipeline"
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" # cron schedule
  script:
    - git config user.name "packmind-bot"
    - git config user.email "packmind-bot@users.noreply.gitlab.com"
    - git remote set-url origin "https://oauth2:${PACKMIND_BOT_TOKEN}@${CI_SERVER_HOST}/${CI_PROJECT_PATH}.git"
    - |
      if git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin packmind-cli-update; then
        git fetch origin packmind-cli-update
        git checkout packmind-cli-update
        git merge --no-edit origin/main || true
      else
        git checkout -b packmind-cli-update
      fi
    - npm install -g @packmind/cli
    - packmind-cli install
    - |
      if [ -z "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
        echo "No artifact changes — skipping commit/push."
        exit 0
      fi
    - git add -A
    - 'git commit -m "chore(packmind): nightly artifacts update"'
    - |
      git push origin packmind-cli-update \
        -o merge_request.create \
        -o merge_request.target=${CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH} \
        -o merge_request.title="chore(packmind): nightly artifacts update"

The reference template is also available in the Packmind repository.

Configure the CI variables

In Settings → CI/CD → Variables, add both variables and mark them as Masked:

Variable	Value
`PACKMIND_API_KEY_V3`	The API key from your Packmind user profile
`PACKMIND_BOT_TOKEN`	A Project Access Token with `write_repository` and `api` scopes, role ≥ Developer

To create the token: Settings → Access Tokens → Add new token with scopes write_repository and api.

The _V3 suffix is the current API key format used by Packmind — keep the name as-is.

Schedule the job

In Settings → CI/CD → Pipeline schedules → Add new schedule, set:

Interval pattern: 0 2 * * 1-5 (weeknights at 02:00 UTC — adjust to your timezone)
Target branch: your default branch

Verify it works

Don’t wait for the schedule. Go to Build → Pipelines → Run pipeline, select your default branch and click Run pipeline. Within a couple of minutes you should see either a new merge request titled chore(packmind): nightly artifacts update, or job logs ending with No artifact changes — skipping commit/push.

Choose a schedule

The example uses 0 2 * * 1-5 — every weeknight at 02:00 UTC (03:00 Paris in winter, 04:00 Paris in summer, 21:00 New York the previous day). Adjust the cron expression to land outside your team’s working hours so PRs are waiting when people come online. How often? Nightly fits most teams. Run hourly only if your playbook changes multiple times a day; running more frequently than your playbook evolves just creates noise.

Security considerations

The job has write access to your repository and uses an API key tied to your Packmind account. Treat both with care.

Always store the API key and bot token as CI/CD secrets — never commit them.
Where possible, generate the Packmind API key from a dedicated service account rather than a personal account, so reviews and audits stay clean if people leave the team.
On GitLab, scope the Project Access Token to the minimum role (Developer) and rotate it periodically.
The opened PR/MR is reviewed by a human — keep that step in your branch protection rules so artifact changes don’t auto-merge.

Troubleshooting

The job ran but no PR/MR was created

Either no artifacts changed (check the logs for No artifact changes), or the job lacked write permissions. On GitHub, verify the permissions: block includes contents: write and pull-requests: write. On GitLab, verify the Project Access Token has write_repository and api scopes and a role of at least Developer.

Authentication error from packmind-cli

The API key is missing, mistyped, or revoked. Regenerate it from your Packmind profile and update the PACKMIND_API_KEY_V3 secret. Make sure the variable name matches exactly — including the _V3 suffix.

The PR/MR exists but doesn't reflect the latest changes

The packmind-cli-update branch may have been edited manually, or merged into the default branch without closing the PR. Close the existing PR/MR, delete the packmind-cli-update branch, and re-run the job — it will recreate the branch from your default branch.

Default branch isn't main

The GitHub example pins ref: main in the checkout step. Replace it with the name of your default branch. On GitLab, CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH is auto-detected, so no change is needed.

Distribution — Distribute artifacts to your team manually or via CLI
Updating Your Playbook — Other ways to update artifacts
CLI Reference — Full reference for packmind-cli install and other commands

Documentation Index

​How it works

​Set up the workflow

​Prerequisites

​Add the workflow

​Configure the API key secret

​Verify it works

​Prerequisites

​Add the workflow

​Configure the CI variables

​Schedule the job

​Verify it works

​Choose a schedule

​Security considerations

​Troubleshooting

​Related documentation

How it works

Set up the workflow

Prerequisites

Add the workflow

Configure the API key secret

Verify it works

Prerequisites

Add the workflow

Configure the CI variables

Schedule the job

Verify it works

Choose a schedule

Security considerations

Troubleshooting

Related documentation