Ark

Package manager for AI systems.

What npm is to Node, Ark is to cognitive systems. Install skills, agents, bundles, or full cognitive OS into Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini with a single command. Audit your own and publish them to the Ark registry.

npx ark-pm market

What is this?

AI assistants are powerful but generic. To make them yours, you need to configure them — skills, agents, prompts, workflows, memory. That work is hard to share. Today it lives in gists, Notion docs, screenshots, README forks.

Ark fixes that. Each configured artifact — a skill, a multi-agent setup, a full cognitive OS — becomes a versioned, auditable, installable package. One command to install, one command to publish.

Three things at once:

• A CLI (ark or arkpm) — install, search, audit, publish
• A registry (getark.dev) — public catalogue of packages
• A quality bar — every package goes through an automated audit before publication. Score ≥ 60/100 required to seal, qualitative review for premium packages.

Install

# Use without installing (recommended)
npx ark-pm <command>

# Or install globally
npm install -g ark-pm
ark <command>

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• An AI runtime to install packages into (Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini CLI)

Quick start

Install a package

ark search                  # Browse everything
ark search --type skill     # Filter by type
ark info <name>             # See details before installing
ark install <name>          # Add to your local project (.claude/)
ark install <name> --global # Add globally (~/.claude/)
ark list                    # See what you have
ark update <name>           # Pull a newer version
ark uninstall <name>        # Remove it

Packages drop their files into the right place automatically — skills under .claude/skills/, agents under .claude/agents/, and so on. Nothing magical, just well-placed files you can read and edit.

Publish a package

ark login                   # One-time auth
ark init                    # Create or edit your ark.json manifest
ark audit                   # Get a quality score (>= 60 required)
ark seal                    # Set price + certify the audit
ark publish                 # Submit to the registry

If your package gets flagged during automated review, ark publish --contest requests human review. Use ark publish --dry-run to validate everything without touching the registry.

Package types

Ark recognizes five types of cognitive package:

| Type | What it is | Example | |------|------------|---------| | skill | A single slash command or capability | /recap, /calendar | | agent | A configured subagent with a specific role | mirror (Socratic questions), catalyst (push to ship) | | bundle | A coherent set of skills + agents | A writing toolkit, a research workflow | | system | A full cognitive OS (vault + skills + agents + config) | NoesisGen, Ark-net | | os | A platform-level package (multi-LLM aware) | Operating-system-grade configurations |

Each type has its own audit profile, price cap, and recommended structure.

The audit

Every package goes through a layered audit before it can be published:

• Static checks (D1–D5) — manifest validity, structural soundness, no secrets, dependencies declared, documentation present
• Value assessment (D6) — qualitative review via Claude (use --full). Cost: a few cents
• OS Badge — for type=os packages, an extra qualitative evaluation of multi-platform support

Score < 60? You can't seal. Score ≥ 60? You can seal and price between $0 and the type-specific cap. Want to go above the cap? Explicit confirmation required. The goal: a quality floor without a race to the bottom.

ark audit              # Static only (free)
ark audit --full       # + value assessment (uses Claude)

Pricing

The registry uses a discographic-label model:

• Free packages publish freely once they pass audit
• Paid packages require Stripe Connect onboarding (one-time, in-CLI)
• The creator keeps 75%, Ark keeps 25% — paid out automatically per sale
• Activation codes are single-use (no resharing leakage)

You're not building on a black box. The registry, the audit logic, and this CLI are all visible and accountable.

Commands

| Command | Purpose | |---------|---------| | ark init | Create or edit an ark.json manifest | | ark audit | Run quality checks and generate a report | | ark seal | Set price and certify the audit | | ark publish | Submit to the registry | | ark unpublish <name> | Soft-delete one of your packages | | ark search [query] | Search the registry | | ark info <name> | Show package details | | ark install <name> | Install a package locally or globally | | ark update <name> | Update an installed package | | ark uninstall <name> | Remove an installed package | | ark list | List installed packages | | ark market | Browse types, categories, tags overview | | ark login / logout | Manage your creator credentials | | ark upg | Upgrade ark-pm itself |

Full help on any command: ark <command> --help

The ark.json manifest

Every package has an ark.json at its root. Minimal example:

{
  "name": "my-skill",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "type": "skill",
  "category": "productivity",
  "description": "Short, clear description of what this does.",
  "author": { "name": "Your Name", "email": "[email protected]" },
  "platforms": ["claude-code"],
  "requirements": { "node": ">=18.0.0" },
  "sale": { "model": "one-time", "preferred_price": 0 },
  "license": "MIT"
}

ark init walks you through it interactively. ark audit will tell you what's missing.

Why Ark?

Three problems Ark solves that nothing else does cleanly:

1. Distribution — sharing a Claude configuration today means "copy this from my Notion." Ark gives it a name, a version, an install command.
2. Trust — installing someone's prompts is installing code that runs in your AI's context. The audit gives you a baseline; the seal tells you a human-or-Claude reviewed the value.
3. Sustainability — creators of useful systems deserve to be paid. Ark handles pricing, payments, and payouts so they can focus on building.

Multi-platform roadmap

• Now: Claude Code (native)
• Soon: Codex, Gemini CLI
• The platforms field in ark.json declares what a package supports. The os type packages are written to route between LLMs.

Browse the registry

getark.dev — full catalogue, search, package pages, creator profiles.

Related

• NoesisGen Light — Free starter kit for building your cognitive OS on Claude Code (a system package published on Ark)
• NoesisGen Full — Proactive cognitive OS with autonomous sessions
• Studio GinoFtn — The studio behind Ark and NoesisGen

Credits

Created by Gino Fontana. Built for Claude Code and the wider AI tooling ecosystem.

License

MIT