Export & Import Packages

aptui lets you export your installed packages to a JSON file and import them on another machine (or after a fresh install) to quickly restore your environment.

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Export

Export all installed packages (E)

Press E to export all installed packages to a JSON file.

Export manually installed packages (M)

Press M to export only manually installed packages (excluding auto-installed dependencies). This uses apt-mark showmanual to determine which packages were explicitly installed by the user.

Tip: Exporting only manual packages produces a smaller, cleaner list that is usually sufficient to reproduce your setup — dependencies will be installed automatically.

Overwrite confirmation

If the export file already exists, APTUI will ask for confirmation. Press the same key again (E or M) to overwrite, or Esc to cancel.

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Import (I)

1. Press I to start the import flow.
2. Enter the file path when prompted (leave empty to use the default path).
   • Supports ~/ expansion for home directory paths.
3. APTUI reads the JSON file and filters out packages that are already installed.
4. A confirmation overlay appears showing the number of packages to install and the file path.
5. Choose an action:

Key	Action
y	Confirm and install all listed packages
n / esc	Cancel import
d	Toggle detail view (paginated list of packages to install)
← / h	Previous page (in detail view)
→ / l	Next page (in detail view, 15 packages per page)

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File format

The export file uses a simple JSON format:

{
  "packages": [
    {"name": "curl"},
    {"name": "git"},
    {"name": "vim"}
  ]
}

Packages are sorted alphabetically on export.

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File location

	Path
Default export/import path	~/aptui-packages.json

When running under sudo, APTUI resolves the real user's home directory via the SUDO_USER environment variable.