Getting Started

What is APM?

APM (Agent Package Manager) is the package manager and public registry for agent skills. It connects skill authors to the 34+ AI agent products that support the agentskills.io open standard — including Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, and more.

All packages use scoped names (@scope/name) to avoid collisions and provide clear provenance. The scope is derived from the GitHub repo owner for indexed packages.

Discover skills on the registry, install them with one command, and your agent picks them up automatically.

Install the CLI

npm

npm install -g @orthogonal/apm

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install orthogonal/tap/apm

Linux

curl -fsSL https://apm.sh/install | sh

From source

git clone https://github.com/orthogonalhq/apm.git
cd apm/cli
cargo build --release

Install your first skill

Search for a skill:

apm search "code review"

Install it:

apm install @anthropics/code-review

APM fetches the skill from the registry and writes it to your project:

your-project/
├── .skills/
│   └── @anthropics/
│       └── code-review/
│           └── SKILL.md
└── apm-lock.json

Your agent automatically detects installed skills in .skills/ and loads them when relevant.

How it works

1. Discover — browse apm.orthg.nl or use apm search
2. Install — apm install @scope/name fetches the skill and writes it to .skills/
3. Use — your agent loads installed skills automatically

APM manages the lockfile (apm-lock.json) to track installed packages, their source repositories, and git refs.

Next steps

• SKILL.md Specification — understand the skill format
• Composite Skills — compose atomic skills into domain expertise
• CLI Reference — all available commands and options
• Publishing — get your skills into the registry
• REST API — integrate with the registry programmatically