---
topic: overview
source_keys:
  - context7-microsoft-apm
---

## What APM is

APM (Agent Package Manager) applies a standard package-management model — declare, lock, install, audit — to AI agent configuration. It manages the skills, prompts, instructions, agents, and tools an AI coding assistant needs, so that configuration is version-controlled, peer-reviewed, and reproducible across developer machines and CI pipelines, the same way a dependency manager keeps application code reproducible.

## Scope: install and integrity plane only

APM is deliberately narrow. It governs what reaches disk and enforces policy conformance on that install — nothing more. It is explicitly **not**:
- A runtime for executing agents
- An LLM gateway or model-call proxy
- A fine-tuning tool
- A marketplace requiring a specific distribution platform

It also does not manage agent permissions or version model weights. Any git repository can serve as a valid APM package — there's no mandated central registry, though named registries are supported for teams that want one.

## Producer / consumer model

- A **producer** package is a directory containing an `apm.yml` manifest, primitives under `.apm/`, and a `README.md`.
- A **consumer** project declares dependencies on producer packages in its own `apm.yml` and installs them with `apm install`.
- `apm compile` generates per-target output (e.g., Claude-specific or Copilot-specific files) from the vendor-neutral `.apm/` source tree.
- `apm pack` bundles a producer package into a distributable artifact.

## Package anatomy

APM packages organize content into subdirectories under `.apm/` by primitive type:
- `skills/` — multi-file capabilities (each with its own `SKILL.md`, plus optional `scripts/`, `references/`, `assets/`)
- `prompts/` — reusable prompt templates (`*.prompt.md`)
- `instructions/` — always-on rules (`*.instructions.md`)
- `agents/` — model and tool configuration for a named agent (`*.agent.md`)
- `hooks/` — host-harness lifecycle event bindings

This mirrors how the vendor-neutral primitives compile down to provider-specific formats (Claude, Copilot, etc.) via `apm compile`.