sideshow

Content pack manager for AI CLI tools.

Why

AI CLI tools load agent personas, workflows, templates, and commands from the project directory. Different tools ship different content systems — BMAD has agents and workflows, spectacle has IEEE spec templates, teams build their own custom packs. Today each repo gets its own copy of each system. Across an organization:

• Content is duplicated dozens of times at different versions
• Updates require touching every repo
• No way to compose packs from different systems together
• No separation between pack content (read-only) and project customization

This was pennyfarthing's fatal flaw — per-repo installation that never became a distributable tool.

What sideshow does

sideshow manages content packs from different systems at different scopes. Multiple packs coexist. Multiple versions of the same pack coexist. You control what's active where.

graph TB
    subgraph "Content Systems"
        BMAD[BMAD — agents, workflows]
        SPEC[spectacle — spec templates]
        CUSTOM[custom — team packs]
    end

    subgraph "sideshow"
        S[install / sync / switch]
    end

    subgraph "Scope Levels"
        OS["OS level — /usr/local/share/"]
        USER["User level — ~/.local/share/"]
        PROJECT["Project level — shared across repos"]
        REPO["Repo level — per-repo override"]
    end

    BMAD --> S
    SPEC --> S
    CUSTOM --> S
    S --> OS
    S --> USER
    S --> PROJECT
    S --> REPO

    style S fill:#4a4,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style BMAD fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style SPEC fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style CUSTOM fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff

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Scope levels

Packs can be installed at four levels. The first three are shared across multiple projects — install once, use everywhere.

Scope	Location	Shared?	Use case
OS	/usr/local/share/sideshow/	All users on the machine	Workstations, CI runners
User	~/.local/share/sideshow/	All projects for this user	Personal defaults
Project	<project>/sideshow/	One project, all repos	Org-wide packs
Repo	<repo>/_bmad/	One repo	Per-repo overrides

Lower scopes override higher. A repo-level pack overrides the same pack at user level.

Multi-pack, multi-version

graph LR
    subgraph "Installed Packs"
        B1["bmad 6.2.2"]
        B2["bmad 6.1.0"]
        SP["spectacle 1.0"]
        T["team-pack 2.3"]
    end

    subgraph "Active Configuration"
        PROJ_A["project-a: bmad 6.2.2 + spectacle"]
        PROJ_B["project-b: bmad 6.1.0 + team-pack"]
        PROJ_C["project-c: spectacle only"]
    end

    B1 --> PROJ_A
    SP --> PROJ_A
    B2 --> PROJ_B
    T --> PROJ_B
    SP --> PROJ_C

    style B1 fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style B2 fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style SP fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style T fill:#46a,stroke:#333,color:#fff

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• Install multiple content packs simultaneously — BMAD and spectacle side by side, each providing their own agents and commands
• Install multiple versions of the same pack — bmad 6.2.2 at user level, bmad 6.1.0 pinned in a specific repo
• Switch which version is active with a single command — swap a project from one version to another without reinstalling
• Roll back instantly when an update breaks something

Content systems

sideshow is pack-agnostic. Any content that follows the pattern "agents + workflows + templates loaded by an AI CLI tool" is a pack.

System	What it provides	Status
BMAD	Agent personas, workflows, init system	Working
spectacle	IEEE/ISO spec templates, Claude Code commands	Planned
Custom packs	Team-specific agents, workflows, templates	Planned

Installation

# From source
go install github.com/ArcavenAE/sideshow/cmd/sideshow@latest

# Homebrew (when releases are available)
brew install arcavenae/tap/sideshow

Usage

# Install a content pack
sideshow install bmad --from ~/work/project/_bmad

# Sync commands to the AI tool's global command directory
sideshow commands sync

# Create per-project config so agents can activate
sideshow init --user "Michael"

# Check what's installed
sideshow list
sideshow status

Project status

Done

• Pack installation from local path with version detection
• Version-tracked registry with current symlink
• Command sync with path rewriting (global vs per-repo separation)
• Claude Code permission management
• Init command — config shim satisfies BMAD's init gate

To do

• Scope levels beyond user — OS, project, repo (#4, #7)
• Pack sources beyond local path — git, registry (#3)
• Version switching — change active version per scope
• Multi-pack composition — load and merge multiple packs
• Three-layer customization — core, global custom, per-repo custom (#7)
• sideshow update and sideshow remove
• Marvel workspace integration (#5)

License

MIT