Why?

Package managers like APT, DNF, and Pacman track dependencies well, but they don't help when you're experimenting.

A typical workflow looks like:

sudo apt install pavucontrol alsa-utils
sudo apt install pulseaudio-utils
sudo apt install jackd2

A few hours later:

• You no longer need most of those packages.
• You don't remember what you installed.
• autoremove won't remove them because they're marked as explicitly installed.

Over time, temporary experiments become permanent system clutter.

labeled solves this by tracking those installations under a named session.

Quick Start

See labeled in action as it bundles packages under a clean tracking session, monitors the environment, and safely offloads them when no longer needed:

Can't use the interactive demo? Jump straight to the Usage Reference below.

Installation

npm

npm install -g labeled-cli

Verify

labeled --help

Common Use Cases

• Troubleshooting Sessions — Test potential fixes from forum threads or issue trackers safely. If it doesn't work, wipe it out completely.

  labeled install wifi-fix wireless-tools firmware-iwlwifi
  labeled remove wifi-fix

• Temporary Build Tools — Pull down heavy compilers or development assets (gcc, cmake) just long enough to compile a project from source, then instantly free up your disk space.

  labeled install build-env gcc make cmake automake
  labeled remove build-env

• Dependency Experiments — Audit alternative runtimes or evaluate libraries locally without permanently cluttering your baseline system environment.

  labeled install node-test nodejs npm
  labeled remove node-test

Commands & Usage

USAGE:
  labeled <command> [options]

COMMANDS:
  install <label> <pkgs...>    Install packages and index them under a label
  untrack <label> <pkgs...>    Remove packages from tracking of labels
  remove  <label>              Purge system packages associated with a label
  list                         Display all active labeled environments

ARGUMENTS:
  <label>    The target tracking identifier group
  <pkgs...>  Space-separated list of distro system packages

Quick Examples

# Group and track a set of packages
labeled install audio-fix alsa-utils pavucontrol

# See your active tracking sessions
labeled list

# Safely purge the label and unneeded dependencies
labeled remove audio-fix

How It Works

labeled acts as a thin wrapper around your system package manager.

When packages are installed under a label:

1. The package manager performs the installation.
2. labeled records the package list and metadata.
3. Packages remain fully managed by the native package manager.

When a label is removed:

1. labeled loads the recorded package set.
2. Packages are returned to automatic dependency status.
3. The package manager performs an autoremove operation.
4. Shared dependencies required by other software are preserved.

This approach minimizes the risk of accidentally removing packages still needed elsewhere on the system.

Supported Package Managers

| Package Manager | Distribution | | --------------- | ------------------------------------ | | APT | Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS | | DNF / DNF5 | Fedora, RHEL | | Pacman | Arch Linux, Manjaro |

Package manager detection is automatic.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer
• Linux
• A supported package manager

Contributing

We welcome community contributions! Please read our Contributing Guide to learn how to set up your local development environment, follow our coding standards, and submit pull requests.

License

Custom License. See the LICENSE file for the full terms and usage conditions.