# Packages: add languages, language servers, themes and fonts

> Install Skink packages with skink --install or :install: grammars for more languages, language servers, themes, fonts and Lua scripts. Includes installing what a project needs.

Source: https://skink.cc/customize/packages/

A package adds a language, a language server, a theme, a font or a Lua script. Ten languages are built in; everything else is one command away.

```sh
skink --install kotlin
```

When you open a file Skink has no grammar for, a toast says which package to get: `No grammar for .kt: :install kotlin`.

Browse them all on the [package list](https://skink.cc/packages/).

## Commands

| Inside Skink | From a shell | Does |
|---|---|---|
| `:install NAME` | `skink --install NAME` | Install a verified package by its short name |
| `:install .` | `skink --install .` | Install what this project needs (asks first; `-y` says yes) |
| `:uninstall NAME` | `skink --uninstall NAME` | Remove the package and everything it placed |
| `:packages` | `skink --list` | Show what is installed |
| | `skink --search TEXT` | Search the package index |
| | `skink --update-packages` | Update every installed package |
| `:packages disable NAME` | | Turn a package off without removing it (`enable` turns it back on) |

Short names only install **verified** packages. Anything else installs from where it lives:

```sh
skink --install owner/repo              # the repo's latest GitHub release
skink --install owner/repo/pkg@v1.2     # one package of a repo, at a tag
skink --install ./my-package            # a folder with a skink-package.toml
```

**Look-alike names are refused:**
A short name that only looks like a verified one (`Kotlin`, `kot1in`, `font_pack`) is refused with a "did you mean" hint. Packages from a repo are not verified: read them before you install.

## What a project needs

`skink --install .` looks at the project and offers the packages that match its files, with the reason ("3 files (.kt, .kts)"). It respects `.gitignore` and stops after 20,000 files.

To pin the list instead, add `.skink/packages.json` to the project:

```json
{ "packages": ["kotlin", "font-pack"] }
```

## What a package can hold

| Part | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Grammar (syntax colours) | At once. Loaded the first time a file needs it |
| Language server and tools | Next start. Downloaded for your platform and checked against a pinned SHA-256 |
| Theme | At once. Pick it with `:theme` |
| Font | Copied to your user font folder; choose it in your terminal's settings |
| Lua script | Next start, after you trust it (asked once per version) |

Downloaded tools are on the `PATH` of language servers and terminal tabs only, never your own shell.

Every install says what it added and what to do next, for example `Adds colours for .kt .kts · kotlin language server (next start)`. The notes stay in `:messages`. An install that can't place everything fails and keeps the old version: a font pack whose download lacks one of its font files installs nothing.

Skink draws text with your terminal's font, so a font package only copies the files. Pick the font in your terminal's settings, then restart the terminal. On Windows, open each font in the folder Skink names and choose **Install**.

`:reload` reloads installed packages along with your settings and key bindings.

## Built in, and packages

Built in: Rust, TypeScript and TSX, JavaScript, Python, Go, JSON, TOML, Bash, Markdown and YAML.

As packages: Zig, Dart, HTML, CSS, Lua, Make, INI, diff and XML/SVG, plus kits for Kotlin, Java, C and C++, C#, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Elixir, Haskell, Scala, Nix, Svelte and SQL, four themes and a Nerd Font pack.

A package grammar uses memory only while a file of that language is open: 6 to 12 MB for a small one like CSS or Java, about 30 MB for Kotlin and about 50 MB for Swift. The built-in languages cost nothing extra.

To build every grammar into the binary instead:

```sh
cargo install --git https://github.com/xuckless/skink skink --features all-langs
```

## Where files go

| What | Linux, macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Packages | `~/.local/share/skink/packages` | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\skink\data\packages` |
| Downloaded tools | `~/.local/share/skink/tools` | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\skink\data\tools` |
| Fonts | `~/.local/share/fonts` (Linux), `~/Library/Fonts` (macOS) | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts` |

`$SKINK_DATA_DIR` moves the data folder (`$XDG_DATA_HOME/skink` is used when set). On Windows, Skink copies fonts to that folder and tells you to install them from there. `SKINK_INDEX_URL` points search and short names at another index.

Next: [write your own package](https://skink.cc/customize/write-a-package/).