AMP — AI Module Package-manager

Install AI skills once. Available in every AI client.

AMP is a CLI tool that works like npm or Yarn, but for MCP servers (AI tools/skills). Add a package once and AMP writes the correct config for every AI client on your machine — Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, JetBrains, and more.

amp add filesystem        # per-project (writes config files in your repo)
amp add -g brave-search   # global (injects into all AI client configs)

---

Install

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ShadowsKeep/amp/main/install/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ShadowsKeep/amp/main/install/install.ps1 | iex

No Rust required — the installer downloads a pre-built binary and adds it to your PATH.

Build from source (requires Rust 1.80+):

cargo install --path .

---

Quick Start

# In your project directory
amp init                  # creates amp.json
amp add filesystem        # add a local file-access skill
amp add -g github         # add GitHub access globally (all AI clients)
amp list                  # show installed packages
amp doctor                # check runtimes and AI client status

---

How It Works

Local installs (default)

amp add filesystem

AMP writes native config files directly into your project:

File	Read by
.mcp.json	Claude Code, Warp
.cursor/mcp.json	Cursor
.vscode/mcp.json	VS Code / GitHub Copilot
.junie/mcp/mcp.json	JetBrains / Junie

Commit these files alongside your code. Teammates open the project and their AI clients pick up the tools automatically — no amp install needed.

Global installs (-g)

amp add -g github

Writes directly into each AI client's global config file (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline). Always active, regardless of which project you're in. Stored in ~/.config/amp/global.json.

---

Commands

Command	Description
amp init	Create amp.json and ai_modules/ in the current directory
amp add <package>	Add a local package (writes per-project config files)
amp add -g <package>	Add a global package (injects into all AI client configs)
amp remove <package>	Remove a local package
amp remove -g <package>	Remove a global package
amp install	Re-sync all local packages from amp.json
amp install -g	Re-sync all global packages from ~/.config/amp/global.json
amp list	Show local packages and per-project config file status
amp list -g	Show global packages and linked AI clients
amp search [query]	Browse available packages in the registry
amp doctor	Check runtimes, AI clients, and project status
amp bridge	Start a local OpenAI-compatible proxy at localhost:1337

Global flag: --dir <path> — run against a project at a specific path.

---

Package Registry

AMP has a built-in registry of verified MCP servers. Use amp search to browse, or specify one directly:

Official (@modelcontextprotocol)

Name	Description
filesystem	Read/write local files
github	GitHub repos, issues, PRs, code search
gitlab	GitLab repos, issues, MRs
postgres	PostgreSQL queries
memory	Persistent knowledge graph memory
sequential-thinking	Dynamic reasoning tool
brave-search	Brave web search (API key required)
slack	Slack messages and channels (bot token required)
puppeteer	Headless browser automation
playwright	Multi-browser automation
mongodb	MongoDB queries

Web Search

Name	Description
exa	Exa AI-powered search (API key required)
tavily	Tavily search for agents (API key required)
perplexity	Perplexity AI search (API key required)

Cloud & SaaS

Name	Description
cloudflare	Cloudflare Workers, KV, D1, R2
stripe	Payments, customers, subscriptions (API key required)
sentry	Error tracking and issues
notion	Pages, databases, blocks (integration token required)
figma	File data and component inspection (API key required)

Python / uvx

Name	Description
sqlite	SQLite queries
fetch	Fetch web pages as markdown
git	Git history, diffs, commits
mysql	MySQL queries
redis	Redis key-value access
aws-docs	AWS service documentation search
aws-cdk	AWS CDK guidance

Custom packages

Use explicit prefixes for packages not in the registry:

amp add npm:@my-org/mcp-server     # any npm package
amp add pip:my-mcp-tool            # any PyPI package
amp add github:org/repo            # any GitHub repository

---

Project Structure

my-project/
├── amp.json              # Manifest: dependencies & permissions (commit this)
├── amp.lock              # Lockfile: resolved versions & integrity hashes (commit this)
├── .mcp.json             # Claude Code / Warp config (commit this)
├── .cursor/mcp.json      # Cursor config (commit this)
├── .vscode/mcp.json      # VS Code config (commit this)
├── .junie/mcp/mcp.json   # JetBrains config (commit this)
└── ai_modules/           # Local metadata cache (gitignored)

amp init automatically adds ai_modules/ to .gitignore.

amp.json

{
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "filesystem": "latest",
    "postgres": "latest"
  },
  "permissions": {
    "filesystem": ["subprocess", "fs-read"],
    "postgres": ["subprocess", "network"]
  }
}

---

Permissions

Every amp add shows an interactive permission prompt before writing any config. AMP tracks four categories:

Permission	Scope
network	Outgoing network connections
fs-read	Reading local files
fs-write	Writing/modifying local files
subprocess	Spawning child processes

---

Global AI Client Detection

When using amp add -g, AMP injects into all detected AI client configs:

Client	Global Config Path
Claude Desktop	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows) / ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/... (macOS)
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

Config writes are atomic — existing files are backed up to .bak before modification.

---

Runtime Requirements

AMP installs config entries; the AI client runs the actual package. Required runtimes:

• Node packages (npx): Install Node.js
• Python packages (uvx): Install uv

Run amp doctor to check which runtimes are available on your system.

---

Bridge Mode

amp install && amp bridge

Starts an OpenAI-compatible HTTP server at localhost:1337. Useful for custom integrations or web-based tools that speak the OpenAI API but need access to MCP tools.

• GET /v1/tools — list all installed tools as OpenAI function definitions
• GET /v1/models — list installed servers
• POST /v1/chat/completions — execute tool calls via MCP

---

Architecture

Module	Responsibility
mcp_host	Package resolution, built-in registry, runtime detection
scanner	Detect AI client paths; write per-project and global configs
sync	Orchestrate add/remove/install for local and global scopes
config	amp.json / amp.lock / global.json types and I/O
runtime_check	Probe for Node, npx, Python, uvx
permissions	Interactive permission prompting and validation
atomic_write	Safe file writes with .bak backup
bridge	Local OpenAI-compatible proxy server
mcp_client	stdio JSON-RPC client for spawning and talking to MCP servers

---

License

MIT