Kits

Kits are modular bundles that group everything needed for a language or tool: installation, environment setup, caching, onboarding, and container configuration.

Available Kits

Kit	Description	Activation
node	Node.js LTS via fnm, global dev packages	Always on
python	Python 3 with uv, linters, formatters	Default
java	JDK 17/21/25 via mise, Maven, Gradle	Default
docker	Docker-in-Docker with buildx and compose	Default
github	GitHub CLI (gh)	Default
openspec	OpenSpec CLI	Default
shell	oh-my-zsh, tmux, direnv	Always on
ports	Automatic port forwarding for web services	Always on
ast-grep	AST-based code search, lint, and rewrite (sg)	Opt-in
browser	Chromium browser via Playwright	Opt-in
cx	Semantic code navigation for AI agents	Opt-in
apt	Extra apt packages in the project image	Opt-in

Activation Tiers

Kits have three activation levels:

Tier	Behavior
Always on	Active even if not mentioned in config. Cannot be disabled.
Default	Added to your config automatically when first detected. Active when present in config.
Opt-in	Only active if you explicitly enable it in your config.

When Asylum detects a new kit (e.g., after an update), it prompts you to activate Default kits and adds Opt-in kits as commented-out entries in your config.

Enabling Kits

Add a kit to your .asylum config with an empty map to enable it with defaults, or with specific options:

kits:
  docker: {}                  # enable with defaults
  java:
    versions: ["17", "21"]    # enable with options

Disabling Kits

Default-tier kits can be disabled:

kits:
  github:
    disabled: true

Always-on kits (node, shell, ports) cannot be disabled.

Kit Resolution

When kits are configured explicitly (via config or --kits flag):

• Full kit (e.g., java) — activates the kit and all its sub-kits (maven, gradle)
• Specific sub-kit (e.g., java/maven) — activates the parent kit and only that sub-kit
• Always-on kits are added automatically regardless of config

Sub-Kits

Some kits contain sub-kits for optional features:

Kit	Sub-Kits
node	node/npm, node/pnpm, node/yarn
python	python/uv
java	java/maven, java/gradle

When you enable a kit, all its sub-kits are included. To be selective, reference sub-kits directly with --kits java/maven.

Dependencies

Kits can depend on other kits. For example, openspec depends on node. Missing dependencies are auto-activated at resolve time.