# Installing and syncing docspack is a CLI. Run it with `npx docspack `, or install it as a dev dependency to pin the version your team uses. ## Requirements Node 22.5 or newer. The index uses `node:sqlite` from the Node standard library, so there is no native module to compile and `npx docspack` starts without a build step. ## Adding a documentation package Documentation packages are ordinary npm dependencies. Add one the way you add anything else: ```bash pnpm add -D @acme/docspack npx docspack sync ``` `docspack sync` reads `dependencies` and `devDependencies` from the project's `package.json`, keeps the entries named `@vendor/docspack`, `@vendor/-docspack` or `@docspack-community/*`, resolves each one in `node_modules`, and indexes its chunks. A dependency that ships a `.llms/manifest.json` under any other name is not indexed, and `sync` says so rather than passing over it: it names the package, the number of chunks its manifest declares, and the shapes it would have matched. A pack nobody can read is nearly always a publishing mistake, and the alternative to reporting it is a question answered confidently from the wrong corpus. It then reads the other dependencies — the ordinary libraries — and indexes one entry per name their type declarations export, so a question about something nobody documented can still be answered from the installed build. See [answers from the installed build](10-answers-from-the-installed-build.md). Both halves of that walk upwards from the working directory: the declaration is read from the nearest `package.json` and from every ancestor, and the install is resolved through every `node_modules` above. So a monorepo that declares its documentation once in the repository root is found from any workspace member, which is where an agent usually is. ## What sync does on the second run Indexing is keyed by name and version. A package already present in the index is reported as `cached` and its files are not read again: ``` + @acme/docspack@1.4.0 128 chunks indexed = @other/docspack@2.0.0 44 chunks cached ``` Bump a dependency and the new version is indexed as a new entry; the old one stays in the database for any project still using it. To re-read a package whose contents changed without a version bump, which happens while authoring, pass `--force`. ## Inspecting a project `docspack list` shows the documentation packages this project depends on and whether each is in the index: ``` @acme/docspack@1.4.0 128 chunks indexed ``` Problems are reported rather than hidden. A package that is declared but not installed, or installed but missing its manifest, is named on stderr so it does not silently disappear from search results. ## Choosing where the index lives The default is `~/.docspack/store.db`. Override it with `--store ` on any command, or by setting the `DOCSPACK_STORE` environment variable. A per-project index is occasionally useful in CI, where a clean database makes runs reproducible: ```bash DOCSPACK_STORE=.cache/docspack.db npx docspack sync ``` The database is safe to delete. Everything in it can be rebuilt from `node_modules` with `docspack sync`.