Packages

Packages

tallow has a package system for distributing commands, agents, skills, and hooks. Packages are directories that contain any combination of these resources.

Registering a package

Add local paths to packages in your settings file (.tallow/settings.json or ~/.tallow/settings.json):

{
  "packages": [
    "../my-plugin",
    "~/dev/shared-commands"
  ]
}

Each path is scanned for commands/, prompts/, agents/, skills/, and hooks.json. Only local paths are supported today — entries starting with npm:, git:, or https:// are skipped because remote repository caching is not yet implemented.

Example package layout

my-package/
├── commands/
│   ├── deploy.md        → becomes /deploy
│   └── review.md        → becomes /review
├── prompts/
│   └── explain.md       → becomes /explain
├── agents/
│   └── planner.md       → becomes /planner
├── skills/
│   └── my-skill/
│       └── SKILL.md     → loaded by name
└── hooks.json           → merged into hook system

All directories are optional. A package with only commands/ works. A package with only hooks.json works. They compose freely.

Commands and prompts are interchangeable

The commands/ and prompts/ directories are treated as synonyms. Files from either directory are merged into a single command set, deduplicated by name (prompts/ wins on conflict).

This applies everywhere — inside packages, in ~/.tallow/, and in .tallow/. Put a markdown file in either directory and it becomes a /slash command.

Namespacing

Package commands use colon-separated namespaces to avoid collisions:

Source	Result
.tallow/prompts/deploy.md	/deploy
.tallow/prompts/ops/deploy.md	/ops:deploy
my-package/commands/deploy.md	/my-package:deploy
my-package/prompts/ops/deploy.md	/my-package:ops:deploy

What gets loaded

Three extensions independently scan package directories:

Package feature	Extension	What it does
commands/*.md	command-prompt	Loads markdown files as /slash commands
agents/*.md	agent-commands	Loads agent definitions as /agent-name commands
hooks.json	hooks	Loads lifecycle hooks for tool gating, automation, etc.

Each extension resolves paths from settings.json packages, the global ~/.tallow/ directory, and the project-local .tallow/ directory. A single package directory with any combination of these files just works — no adapter or registration needed.