README.md

July 19, 2026 · View on GitHub

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`[THE COMMUNITY PACKAGE INDEX FOR ARB]`

"No server, no API. The index is a JSON file in a git repo, and every package is an ordinary git repo."

arb-registry is the community package index for arb — a git-index registry on the crates.io-index / homebrew-core model. There is no service to run and no API to call: the index is this repo's index.json, packages are ordinary git repos, and the arb CLI is the client. Resolution is a git pull; publishing is a commit.

[0x00] OVERVIEW

A registry is usually a server: an HTTP API, a database, an auth layer, uptime. arb-registry is none of that. It borrows the model Cargo and Homebrew use for their indexes — the catalog is a versioned file in a git repo — and applies it to arb packages. The client (arb itself) clones this repo into ~/.arb/registry, reads index.json, and installs packages by cloning their repos into ~/.arb/pkg. The whole system is auditable in one file and works offline once pulled.

[0x01] INDEX FORMAT

index.json maps a package name to where it lives and what it is:

{
  "mypkg": { "repo": "https://github.com/you/mypkg", "version": "0.2.0", "desc": "a demo dashboard" }
}

[0x02] CLIENT COMMANDS

arb update             # clone/fast-forward this index into ~/.arb/registry
arb search QUERY       # grep the index by name + description
arb install NAME       # git clone the package repo, validate it, install to ~/.arb/pkg
arb uninstall NAME
arb publish [GIT_URL]  # validate the package here, upsert its entry, commit + push

arb publish fast-forward-pulls this index, adds/updates the package's entry, commits, and pushes. With write access it lands directly; otherwise fork this repo and open a PR with the committed change.

[0x03] PUBLISHING A PACKAGE

A package is a git repo with an arb.toml manifest and one or more exported .arb modules (NAME.arb / main.arb, or [exports] modules = [...]).
From the package directory: arb publish (uses the repo's origin remote), or arb publish https://github.com/you/mypkg.

[0x04] RESOLUTION

import NAME in a spec resolves in order: local file → ~/.arb/lib/NAME → installed package (~/.arb/pkg/NAME) → stdlib preset. arb install NAME reads this index for the repo URL, clones and validates the package, and drops it under ~/.arb/pkg so the import resolves.

[0x05] STATUS

Active. The index ships today (git subprocess as transport — no in-process TLS), with semver checking against the index version, a visited-set cycle guard, and the ~/.arb/pkg resolver tier. arb publish is client-only pending the hosted index.

[0xFF] LICENSE

MIT.

Read the Docs · arb · index.json

`Read the Docs` · `arb` · `index.json`