Dependencies

abtars deps manages two independent optional-dependency systems: npm package groups and system binaries. This page is the reference for both.

Command surface

abtars deps list             # show every group + system binary + install status
abtars deps install [name|all]   # install a group (default: all)
abtars deps update [name|all]    # refresh an installed group
abtars deps remove <name>        # uninstall a group

There is no deps check — use deps list, which shows install status for everything in one view.

Npm package groups

Group	Packages	What it enables
native	better-sqlite3, sqlite-vec	SQLite storage for kanban + abmind memory. Installed automatically on first boot if missing; deps install/update exist for manual repair or refresh.
twitter	rettiwt-api	Twitter/X integration
pdf	pdf-parse	PDF reading
youtube	youtube-transcript	YouTube transcript fetching
image	jimp	Image processing

These CLI-managed npm groups install under ~/.local/lib/node_modules/ — no sudo, no system paths. Daemon mode wires NODE_PATH automatically; simple mode needs the manual export documented in Installation.

Browser runtimes

lightpanda and cloak are auto-managed external binaries rather than npm groups. They install into the user-local prefix and remain available under their original executable names:

Name	What it enables	Install/update behavior
lightpanda	JavaScript-rendered fetches in web-fetch level 3	Runs Lightpanda's official installer on the nightly channel
cloak	Action-capable stealth browser for Browsie	Installs the latest @dreamor/cloakbrowser-cli, cloakbrowser, and playwright-core, then ensures the CloakBrowser binary is downloaded

Use abtars deps install lightpanda cloak for a first setup and abtars deps update lightpanda cloak to refresh both from upstream. No versions are pinned. abtars deps install all includes both browser runtimes.

Skill script dependencies

Skill scripts use a separate, generic dependency contract. Any skill under core/, self/, custom/, or downloaded/ may declare exact npm versions in scripts/package.json:

{
  "type": "module",
  "dependencies": {
    "example-runtime-package": "1.2.3"
  }
}

Absent or empty dependencies means no preparation. Non-empty declarations are validated and installed centrally under ~/.abtars/node_modules/, then checked from a nested skill-script path. This is distinct from abtars deps: skill dependencies are prepared automatically at release deploy (before activation), boot, and explicit /skill reload. They are never installed while a model is executing a skill.

Exact semantic versions are required. A shared package may have only one direct version; conflicting skill declarations exclude the affected skills on reload or abort deployment before activation. See Skills for the declaration and recovery details.

pi (the coding-agent CLI/AI/TUI bundle) is managed through the same deps install|update|remove pi commands but is a separate external distribution with its own compatibility check — see Pi Executor.

The browser capability is not embedded in abtars. Its external cloak runtime is managed by abtars deps; see Browser.

Native deps: shared with abmind

better-sqlite3 and sqlite-vec are the one dependency group abtars and abmind both need, and both products may end up owning the same install (same shared ~/.local/lib/node_modules/ root, same target versions). abtars deps install/update native and the equivalent abmind deps command coordinate through a shared, file-locked manifest — whichever product touches the group first records ownership; the other becomes a consumer.

States you may see

deps list reports one of these states per npm group:

State	Meaning
ready	Installed at the target version and recorded in the shared manifest — nothing to do.
absent	Not installed. deps install will fetch it.
partial	Only some packages in the group are present. deps install/update repairs it.
invalid	Present but corrupted (unreadable metadata, missing version). Repaired the same way as partial.
drifted	The exact target version is present on disk, but the shared manifest doesn't already own it — usually because another install path (manual npm install, an older abtars/abmind version, or the other product) put it there first.

What happens on drifted

A drifted group is not automatically broken — it just means abtars can't yet prove ownership through the manifest. deps install/update resolves this one of two ways:

• Adopt — if the installed package and everything it depends on (its full dependency closure) checks out exactly against the target contract, abtars records ownership in the shared manifest without running npm or touching any files. You'll see output like:

  ✓ native adopted (2 roots, 1 transitive; no npm install)

• Repair — if the closure can't be verified as an exact match (wrong version, corrupted files, unexpected structure), abtars falls back to a normal npm-backed install/refresh instead.

Collision errors

If deps update/install stages a fresh npm install and finds an unrelated, unrecorded package already sitting in the shared root under the same name — something neither abtars nor abmind is tracking, and not the same content — it refuses to overwrite it rather than silently replacing files another tool put there:

✗ native failed: Collision with unrelated package "some-package"; refusing to overwrite.

This is a real, if rare, conflict — it means something outside abtars/abmind's coordination put a same-named package in the shared root. It is not triggered by ordinary version-range differences between dependents (e.g. one package wanting ^1.2.0 and another ^1.2.3 of the same transitive dependency) — that kind of declaration diversity is normal and does not cause a collision.

If you hit this, check what else writes to ~/.local/lib/node_modules/ on your machine before re-running deps update.

System binaries (manual install)

Binary	What for	Install command
ollama	Local embeddings + local models	curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh
bwrap	Sandbox (Linux only)	apt install bubblewrap

These manual system dependencies are not installed by abtars and may require their own platform package manager. The browser runtimes above are different: their upstream installers are run by abtars deps install/update without sudo. See Prerequisites for why.

Troubleshooting

• abtars deps update fails with a collision on a transitive package you didn't expect — see Collision errors above.
• A group stays drifted after deps update — the closure verification failed silently; re-run with the group name explicit (abtars deps update native) and check the printed error for the specific mismatch (version, hash, ABI, platform).
• Simple mode can't find installed npm packages at runtime — add NODE_PATH="$HOME/.local/lib/node_modules:$NODE_PATH" to your shell profile; daemon mode sets this automatically. See Installation.