@altairalabs/packc

PromptKit Pack Compiler - Compile and validate prompt packs for LLM applications

Installation

npx (No Installation Required)

npx @altairalabs/packc compile -c arena.yaml
npx @altairalabs/packc validate -c arena.yaml

Global Installation

npm install -g @altairalabs/packc

# Use directly
packc version
packc compile -c arena.yaml

Project Dev Dependency

npm install --save-dev @altairalabs/packc

# Use via npm scripts
# Add to package.json:
{
  "scripts": {
    "build:prompts": "packc compile -c arena.yaml",
    "validate:prompts": "packc validate -c arena.yaml"
  }
}

What is PackC?

PackC is the PromptKit Pack Compiler - a tool for compiling and validating prompt configurations. It helps you:

• 📦 Compile prompts from YAML configurations into optimized packs
• ✅ Validate configurations before deployment
• 🔍 Inspect prompts to understand structure and metadata
• 🚀 Optimize prompt loading for production use

Quick Start

1. Create a configuration file:

# arena.yaml
name: My Application
version: 1.0.0

prompts:
  - name: assistant
    system_prompt: |
      You are a helpful AI assistant.
    
  - name: code-helper
    system_prompt: |
      You are an expert programmer.
    context:
      - type: file
        path: ./docs/guidelines.md

2. Compile the prompts:

packc compile -c arena.yaml -o prompts.pack

3. Validate the configuration:

packc validate -c arena.yaml

4. Inspect a specific prompt:

packc inspect -c arena.yaml -p assistant

Commands

compile

Compile all prompts from a configuration file into a single pack:

packc compile -c arena.yaml -o output.pack

Options:

• -c, --config: Path to arena.yaml configuration file (required)
• -o, --output: Output pack file path (default: prompts.pack)

compile-prompt

Compile a single prompt:

packc compile-prompt -c arena.yaml -p assistant -o assistant.json

Options:

• -c, --config: Path to configuration file (required)
• -p, --prompt: Name of the prompt to compile (required)
• -o, --output: Output file path (default: stdout)

validate

Validate configuration file without compiling:

packc validate -c arena.yaml

Checks for:

• YAML syntax errors
• Missing required fields
• Invalid prompt references
• Malformed context definitions
• File path validation

inspect

Inspect a specific prompt's configuration:

packc inspect -c arena.yaml -p assistant

Shows:

• Prompt name and metadata
• System prompt content
• Context sources
• Variable definitions
• Formatting details

version

Display version information:

packc version

Use Cases

CI/CD Validation

Add prompt validation to your CI pipeline:

# .github/workflows/validate.yml
- name: Validate prompts
  run: npx @altairalabs/packc validate -c config/arena.yaml

Build Scripts

Compile prompts as part of your build process:

{
  "scripts": {
    "prebuild": "packc compile -c arena.yaml",
    "build": "your-build-command"
  }
}

Local Development

Quickly validate changes during development:

# Watch for changes and validate
watch -n 2 'packc validate -c arena.yaml'

How It Works

This npm package downloads pre-built Go binaries from GitHub Releases during installation. The binaries are:

1. Downloaded for your specific OS and architecture
2. Extracted from the release archive
3. Made executable (Unix-like systems)
4. Invoked through a thin Node.js wrapper

No Go toolchain is required on your machine.

Supported Platforms

• macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)
• Linux (x86_64 and arm64)
• Windows (x86_64 and arm64)

Documentation

• Full Documentation
• Configuration Reference
• Examples

Troubleshooting

Binary Download Fails

If the postinstall script fails:

1. Check your internet connection
2. Verify the version exists in GitHub Releases
3. Check npm proxy/registry settings
4. Try manual installation:

# Download binary directly
curl -L https://github.com/AltairaLabs/PromptKit/releases/download/v0.0.1/PromptKit_v0.0.1_Darwin_arm64.tar.gz -o packc.tar.gz
tar -xzf packc.tar.gz packc
chmod +x packc

Permission Denied

On Unix-like systems:

chmod +x node_modules/@altairalabs/packc/packc

Alternative Installation Methods

• Homebrew: brew install altairalabs/tap/promptkit
• Go Install: go install github.com/AltairaLabs/PromptKit/tools/packc@latest
• Direct Download: GitHub Releases
• Build from Source: Clone repo and run make install-tools

Related Tools

• @altairalabs/promptarena - Test and evaluate your prompts
• PromptKit SDK - Production deployment library

License

Apache-2.0 - see LICENSE

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md

Support

• GitHub Issues
• Discussions