apm-cli 0.9.0

MCP configuration tool

APM – Agent Package Manager

An open-source, community-driven dependency manager for AI agents.

Think package.json, requirements.txt, or Cargo.toml — but for AI agent configuration.

GitHub Copilot · Claude Code · Cursor · OpenCode · Codex

Documentation · Quick Start · CLI Reference

Why APM

AI coding agents need context to be useful — standards, prompts, skills, plugins — but today every developer sets this up manually. Nothing is portable nor reproducible. There's no manifest for it.

APM fixes this. Declare your project's agentic dependencies once in apm.yml, and every developer who clones your repo gets a fully configured agent setup in seconds — with transitive dependency resolution, just like npm or pip. It's also the first tool that lets you author plugins with a real dependency manager and export standard plugin.json packages.

# apm.yml — ships with your project
name: your-project
version: 1.0.0
dependencies:
  apm:
    # Skills from any repository
    - anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design
    # Plugins
    - github/awesome-copilot/plugins/context-engineering
    # Specific agent primitives from any repository
    - github/awesome-copilot/agents/api-architect.agent.md
    # A full APM package with instructions, skills, prompts, hooks...
    - microsoft/apm-sample-package#v1.0.0
  mcp:
    # MCP servers -- installed into every detected client
    - name: io.github.github/github-mcp-server
      transport: http   # MCP transport name, not URL scheme -- connects over HTTPS

git clone <org/repo> && cd <repo>
apm install    # every agent is configured

Highlights

• One manifest for everything — instructions, skills, prompts, agents, hooks, plugins, and MCP servers declared in apm.yml and deployed across every client on install
• Install from anywhere — GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, any git host
• Transitive dependencies — packages can depend on packages; APM resolves the full tree
• Content security — apm audit scans for hidden Unicode; apm install blocks compromised packages before agents read them
• Author plugins — build Copilot, Claude, and Cursor plugins with dependency management and security scanning, then export standard plugin.json
• Marketplaces — install plugins from curated registries in one command; deployed across all targets, locked, scanned, and governed by apm-policy.yaml
• Pack & distribute — apm pack bundles your configuration as a zipped package or a standalone plugin
• CI/CD ready — GitHub Action for automated workflows

Get Started

Linux / macOS

curl -sSL https://aka.ms/apm-unix | sh

Windows

irm https://aka.ms/apm-windows | iex

Native release binaries are published for macOS, Linux, and Windows x86_64. apm update reuses the matching platform installer.

Other install methods

Linux / macOS

# Homebrew
brew install microsoft/apm/apm
# pip
pip install apm-cli

Windows

# Scoop
scoop bucket add apm https://github.com/microsoft/scoop-apm
scoop install apm
# pip
pip install apm-cli

Then start adding packages:

apm install microsoft/apm-sample-package#v1.0.0

Or install from a marketplace:

apm marketplace add github/awesome-copilot
apm install azure-cloud-development@awesome-copilot

Or add an MCP server (wired into Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Codex, and OpenCode):

apm install --mcp io.github.github/github-mcp-server --transport http   # connects over HTTPS

Codex CLI currently does not support remote MCP servers; the install will skip Codex with a notice. Omit --transport http to use the local Docker variant on Codex (requires GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN).

See the Getting Started guide for the full walkthrough.

Works with agentrc

agentrc analyzes your codebase and generates tailored agent instructions — architecture, conventions, build commands — from real code, not templates.

Use agentrc to author high-quality instructions, then package them with APM to share across your org. The .instructions.md format is shared by both tools — no conversion needed when moving instructions into APM packages.

Community

Created by @danielmeppiel. Maintained by @danielmeppiel and @sergio-sisternes-epam.

• Roadmap & Discussions
• Contributing
• AI Native Development guide — a practical learning path for AI-native development

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Built on open standards: AGENTS.md · Agent Skills · MCP

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.