modpack-lock

by nickesc - GitHub | Modrinth

Creates a modpack lockfile for files hosted on Modrinth (mods, resource packs, shaders and datapacks).

Overview

Many mod and pack authors request that modpack creators link to Modrinth or CurseForge downloads rather than re-hosting files. This makes it difficult to track content files in version control when pushing to a remote server.

This script generates a modpack.lock file containing a plaintext representation of the modpack's contents. This object contains the metadata for the content available on Modrinth, including hashes, versions, names, download URLs and more. An optional modpack.json file can also be created to store your modpack's metadata (name, version, modloader, dependencies, etc.) alongside the lockfile. This setup allows for easy diffing and clear version history.

While an .mrpack file could be used to track changes to the modpack, it is a large, binary file that cannot be diffed and can contain large amounts of duplicate data from the rest of the repository.

Using the scripts field in modpack.json, you can also define reusable, tracked shell commands for common modpack tasks (like publishing, generating assets or CI/CD workflows).

Installation

To install the script globally with npm:

npm install -g modpack-lock

Alternatively, you can run it using npx:

npx modpack-lock

CLI

To generate a lockfile for your modpack, run:

modpack-lock

The script will:

• Scan target directory's mods, resourcepacks, datapacks, and shaderpacks directories for .jar and .zip files
• Calculate SHA1 hashes for each file
• Query the Modrinth API for matching versions
• Generate a modpack.lock file (and update modpack.json dependencies if present)

Use flags to generate README.md files for each category or print .gitignore rules for files that are not hosted on Modrinth.

Usage: modpack-lock [options] [command]

Creates a modpack lockfile for files hosted on Modrinth (mods, resource packs, shaders and datapacks)

Options:
  -p, --path <path>       Path to the modpack directory
  -d, --dry-run           Dry-run mode - no files will be written

GENERATION
  -g, --gitignore         Print .gitignore rules for files not hosted on Modrinth
  -r, --readme            Generate README.md files for each category

LOGGING
  -q, --quiet             Quiet mode - only show errors and warnings
  -s, --silent            Silent mode - no output

INFORMATION
  -V                      output the version number
  -h, --help              display help for modpack-lock

Commands:
  init [options]          This utility will walk you through creating a modpack.json file. It only covers the most common items, and tries to guess sensible defaults.
  run [options] <script>  Run a script (shell command) defined in modpack.json's 'scripts' object

Initialization

To initialize a new modpack, run:

modpack-lock init

This command will:

• Prompt the user for the modpack's metadata (name, version, author, etc.)
• Generate the lockfile
• Generate a modpack.json file that stores your modpack's metadata (name, version, author, etc.), including a list of dependencies

The interactive mode will prompt you for each field. Set their initial values using the available option flags. Use --noninteractive with the required options to skip the interactive-prompt and use the provided values.

Usage: modpack-lock init [options]

This utility will walk you through creating a modpack.json file. It only covers the most common items, and tries to guess sensible defaults.

Options:
  -f, --folder <path>                                Path to the modpack directory
  -n, --noninteractive                               Non-interactive mode - must provide options for required fields
  --add-license                                      Add the license file to the modpack

MODPACK INFORMATION
  --name <name>                                      Modpack name; defaults to the directory name
  --version <version>                                Modpack version; defaults to 1.0.0
  --id <id>                                          Modpack slug/ID; defaults to the directory name slugified
  --description <description>                        Modpack description
  --author <author>                                  Modpack author; required
  --projectUrl <projectUrl>                          Modpack URL
  --sourceUrl <sourceUrl>                            Modpack source code URL
  --license <license>                                Modpack license
  --modloader <modloader>                            Modpack modloader; required
  --targetModloaderVersion <targetModloaderVersion>  Target modloader version
  --targetMinecraftVersion <targetMinecraftVersion>  Target Minecraft version; required

INFORMATION
  -h, --help                                         display help for modpack-lock init

Running Scripts

To run a script defined in modpack.json, run:

modpack-lock run <script>

This command takes the name of the script as its first argument:

• It searches for a scripts fiels in modpack.json in the current directory by default.
• Use the -f option to specify a different path to the modpack directory.
• For debug logging, use the -D option.

To pass additional arguments and options to the script, write them after a -- separator:

modpack-lock run <script> -- [options] <args>

The scripts field in modpack.json is a key-value pair of script names and their corresponding shell commands. The scripts field is optional and is omitted by default.

Usage: modpack-lock run [options] <script>

Run a script (shell command) defined in modpack.json's 'scripts' object

Arguments:
  script               The name of the script to run

Options:
  -f, --folder <path>  Path to the modpack directory
  -D, --debug          Debug mode -- show more information about how the command is being parsed
  -h, --help           display help for modpack-lock run

API

For programmatic usage, modpack-lock exports these functions:

• getModpackInfo()
• getLockfile()
• generateJson()
• generateGitignoreRules()
• generateReadmeFiles()
• generateLicense()
• generateLockfile()
• generateModpackFiles()
• promptUserForInfo()

See the API documentation for full details.

File Formats

modpack.lock

The lockfile contains metadata about Modrinth-hosted files found in modpack directories:

{
  "version": "1.0.1",
  "generated": "2026-01-06T03:00:00.000Z",
  "total": 7,
  "counts": {
    "mods": 1,
    "resourcepacks": 3,
    "datapacks": 1,
    "shaderpacks": 2
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "mods": [
      {
        "path": "mods/example-mod.jar",
        "version": { ... }
      }
    ],
    "resourcepacks": [ ... ],
    "datapacks": [ ... ],
    "shaderpacks": [ ... ]
  }
}

modpack.json

The JSON file contains your modpack metadata and a dependency list:

{
  "name": "My Modpack",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "id": "my-modpack",
  "description": "",
  "author": "name",
  "projectUrl": "",
  "sourceUrl": "",
  "license": "",
  "modloader": "modloader",
  "targetModloaderVersion": "",
  "targetMinecraftVersion": "x.y.z",
  "scripts": {
    "example": "echo 'example script'"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "mods": [ ... ],
    "resourcepacks": [ ... ],
    "datapacks": [ ... ],
    "shaderpacks": [ ... ]
  }
}

[!TIP]

Don't commit binaries

Consider adding these rules to your .gitignore to ensure you don't commit the modpack contents to your repository, with exceptions for any files that are not Modrinth-hosted:

mods/*.jar
resourcepacks/*.zip
datapacks/*.zip
shaderpacks/*.zip

## Exceptions
# !mods/example.jar

Use modpack-lock -g to generate and print the rules for your project to the console.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for more details.