Pakker

A fast, reliable multiplatform modpack manager for Minecraft, written in Rust.

Overview

Pakker is a command-line tool for managing Minecraft modpacks across multiple platforms including CurseForge, Modrinth, and GitHub. It provides a streamlined workflow for creating, maintaining, and distributing modpacks with support for automated dependency resolution, version management, and multi-platform exports.

Key Features

Multi-Platform Support

• CurseForge, Modrinth, and GitHub integration
• Unified project management across all platforms
• Platform-specific filtering and optimizations
• Automatic platform-specific manifest generation

Intelligent Project Management

• Dependency Resolution - Automatically resolve and manage project dependencies
• Version Management - Update strategies (latest, specific version, pinned)
• Project Inspection - Detailed project information with dependency trees
• Fuzzy Matching - Typo-tolerant project searches with suggestions

Flexible Export System

• Profile-Based Exports - Customize exports for different platforms and use cases
• Platform Filtering - Automatically exclude projects not available on target platform
• Override Management - Separate override directories for client/server configurations
• Non-Interactive Mode - Full CI/CD support with scriptable commands

Advanced Configuration

• Profile-Specific Settings - Override paths, filtering rules, and export behavior per profile
• Project-Level Customization - Per-project export settings, aliases, and properties
• Side Detection - Automatic client/server/both classification
• Redistributable Control - Manage non-redistributable mod inclusion per profile

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/pakker
cd pakker
cargo build --release

The binary will be available at target/release/pakker.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70 or later
• Git (for remote repository features)

Quick Start

Initialize a New Modpack

# Create a new modpack for Fabric 1.20.1
pakker init -m 1.20.1 -l fabric

# Or for Forge
pakker init -m 1.20.1 -l forge

Add Mods

# Interactive mode - search and select
pakker add sodium

# Non-interactive with platform specification
pakker add-prj --mr sodium --yes

# Add with specific properties
pakker add-prj --cf jei --side both --yes

Inspect Projects

# View project details
pakker inspect sodium

# Multiple projects with dependency trees
pakker inspect sodium lithium phosphor

# View all projects
pakker ls

Fetch Mod Files

# Download all mod files
pakker fetch

# Or use sync to update and fetch
pakker sync

Export Modpack

# Export for CurseForge
pakker export --profile curseforge

# Export for Modrinth
pakker export --profile modrinth

# Export server pack
pakker export --profile serverpack

Project Structure

my-modpack/
├── pakku.json              # Modpack configuration
├── pakku-lock.json         # Lockfile with resolved versions
├── mods/                   # Downloaded mod files
├── overrides/              # Files to include in all exports
├── server-overrides/       # Server-specific files
└── client-overrides/       # Client-specific files

Configuration Example

Basic Configuration (pakku.json)

{
  "name": "My Awesome Modpack",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A performance-focused modpack",
  "author": "YourName",
  "overrides": ["overrides"],
  "serverOverrides": ["server-overrides"],
  "clientOverrides": ["client-overrides"]
}

With Export Profiles

{
  "name": "Multi-Platform Pack",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "overrides": ["overrides"],
  "exportProfiles": {
    "curseforge": {
      "filterPlatform": "curseforge",
      "includeNonRedistributable": false,
      "overrides": ["overrides", "curseforge-specific"]
    },
    "modrinth": {
      "filterPlatform": "modrinth",
      "includeNonRedistributable": true
    },
    "serverpack": {
      "includeClientOnly": false,
      "serverOverrides": ["server-config"]
    }
  }
}

Common Workflows

Development Workflow

# Initialize project
pakker init -m 1.20.1 -l fabric

# Add core mods
pakker add-prj --mr fabric-api --yes
pakker add-prj --mr sodium --yes
pakker add-prj --mr lithium --yes

# Configure and test
pakker fetch
# ... test in game ...

# Add more mods
pakker add create

# Check status
pakker status

# Export for testing
pakker export --profile modrinth

CI/CD Pipeline

# Non-interactive project addition
pakker add-prj --mr fabric-api --yes --no-deps
pakker add-prj --cf jei --yes

# Update to latest versions
pakker update --yes

# Fetch all files
pakker fetch

# Export for all platforms
pakker export --profile curseforge -o dist/curseforge.zip
pakker export --profile modrinth -o dist/modrinth.mrpack
pakker export --profile serverpack -o dist/server.zip

Multi-Platform Release

# Add projects from multiple platforms
pakker add-prj --mr sodium --cf sodium --yes
pakker add-prj --mr lithium --cf lithium --yes

# Configure CurseForge export (no non-redistributable)
# Configure Modrinth export (allow all)
# (in pakku.json - see Export Profiles documentation)

# Export for both
pakker export --profile curseforge -o releases/curseforge-pack.zip
pakker export --profile modrinth -o releases/modrinth-pack.mrpack

Documentation

• Commands Reference - Complete command documentation
• Export Profiles - Profile configuration guide
• Migration Guide - Migrating from Pakku
• Examples - Configuration examples

Command Overview

Command	Description
init	Initialize a new modpack project
import	Import an existing modpack
add	Add projects interactively
add-prj	Add projects non-interactively with explicit platforms
rm	Remove projects
update	Update projects to newer versions
ls	List all projects in modpack
inspect	View detailed project information
fetch	Download all project files
sync	Update and fetch in one command
export	Export modpack for distribution
status	Check for available updates
set	Modify project properties
link	Link related projects
diff	Show differences with remote
credentials	Manage API credentials
cfg	Configure modpack properties

See COMMANDS.md for detailed usage.

Features in Detail

Dependency Resolution

Pakker automatically resolves and manages dependencies:

pakker add sodium
# Automatically adds fabric-api as a dependency

Dependencies are tracked in pakku-lock.json and can be inspected:

pakker inspect sodium
# Shows:
# Dependencies: fabric-api

Project Side Detection

Projects are automatically classified as client-only, server-only, or both:

• Client-only: Shaders, client performance mods, minimap mods
• Server-only: Server management mods, world generation mods
• Both: Most gameplay mods, APIs, libraries

Override this with:

pakker set sodium --side client

Version Management

Control how projects are updated:

# Pin to specific version
pakker set sodium --strategy specific --version 0.5.0

# Always use latest
pakker set lithium --strategy latest

# Manual updates only
pakker set fabric-api --strategy pinned

Export Profiles

Customize export behavior per platform:

• Override directories - Different overrides per export
• Platform filtering - Exclude unavailable mods
• Redistributable control - Manage non-redistributable content
• Client/server filtering - Remove client-only mods from server packs

See EXPORT_PROFILES.md for complete documentation.

Remote Repositories

Sync modpack configuration with Git repositories:

# Add remote
pakker remote add origin https://github.com/user/modpack.git

# Pull updates
pakker remote-update

# Configuration is automatically synced

Credentials Management

Store platform API credentials securely:

# Set credentials
pakker credentials set --curseforge YOUR_CF_KEY
pakker credentials set --modrinth YOUR_MR_TOKEN

# Credentials are used automatically for:
# - Private mods
# - Rate limit increases
# - Authenticated downloads

Platform Compatibility

CurseForge

• Full project search and metadata
• Automatic manifest generation
• Non-redistributable mod detection
• Curse modpack import support

Modrinth

• Complete Modrinth API integration
• .mrpack format import/export
• Environment metadata support
• Full modpack search

GitHub

• GitHub Releases integration
• Direct JAR downloads
• Version tag support

Advanced Usage

Fuzzy Project Search

Don't remember exact names? Pakker helps:

pakker add sodum
# Suggested: Did you mean "sodium"?

Batch Operations

Add multiple projects efficiently:

pakker add-prj --mr sodium --yes
pakker add-prj --mr lithium --yes
pakker add-prj --mr phosphor --yes

Or use a script:

#!/bin/bash
mods=("sodium" "lithium" "phosphor" "iris")
for mod in "${mods[@]}"; do
  pakker add-prj --mr "$mod" --yes
done

Inspect Dependency Trees

Visualize complex dependency relationships:

pakker inspect create
# Shows:
# create v0.5.1
# ├── flywheel v0.6.10
# │   └── forge-api v1.20.1
# └── registrate v1.3.3

Custom Export Profiles

Create specialized export configurations:

{
  "exportProfiles": {
    "production": {
      "filterPlatform": "curseforge",
      "includeNonRedistributable": false,
      "overrides": ["overrides", "prod-config"]
    },
    "development": {
      "includeNonRedistributable": true,
      "overrides": ["overrides", "dev-config"]
    },
    "client": {
      "includeClientOnly": true,
      "overrides": ["overrides", "client-extras"]
    }
  }
}

Acknowledgments

Pakker is inspired by Pakku, bringing similar functionality with improved performance and additional features through Rust implementation.