Setting Up Your Own Package Registry

A package registry is a collection of package manifests that foton can search and install from. You can use your own package registry to distribute internal packages, test packages before publishing them elsewhere, or maintain a curated set of fonts.

This chapter focuses on the setup workflow. For the exact registry layout and configuration format, see Package Registry Reference and Configuration File Reference.

Registry types

foton supports two kinds of package registry sources:

• local+<absolute-path> for a registry stored in a local directory
• git+<url> for a registry stored in a Git repository

The default configuration already includes the public foton package registry. Custom package registries are added through your config.toml file.

Registry layout

A registry stores package manifests in this directory layout:

<registry-root>/
  <package-name>/
    <version>/
      manifest.toml

Example:

my-registry/
  example-font/
    1.2.3/
      manifest.toml
  another-font/
    2.0.0/
      manifest.toml

Each package version has its own manifest.toml file. This layout lets a single registry contain multiple versions of the same package.

Add a local registry

A local registry path must be absolute. Add an entry to your config.toml file:

[registries.example]
source = "local+C:/path/to/my-registry"
enabled = true

After that, you can search or install from that package registry by ID:

foton search --registry example <query>

foton install --registry example <package-name>

Add a Git registry

To use a registry from Git, add a git+ source to your config.toml file:

[registries.example]
source = "git+https://example.com/fonts/example-registry.git"
enabled = true

Then use it the same way:

foton search --registry example <query>

foton install --registry example <package-name>

foton caches Git registries locally and updates the cached repository when it fetches registry contents.

Enable or disable a registry

Each registry entry has an enabled flag. If omitted, it defaults to true. Set it to false when you want to keep the registry definition in your config.toml file without using it by default. You can still opt in to a disabled package registry explicitly with --registry <registry-id>. If all configured package registries are disabled, commands such as search, install, and update fail unless you specify --registry.

[registries.example]
source = "local+C:/path/to/experimental-registry"
enabled = false

Publish your own packages

A common workflow is:

1. Write and validate a manifest locally
2. Place the manifest at <package-name>/<version>/manifest.toml in your registry
3. Add the registry to your config.toml file
4. Search or install from that package registry with --registry <registry-id>

If you enable multiple package registries that contain the same package name, install and update may ask you to disambiguate by narrowing --registry.

Related pages

• Package Registry Reference
• Configuration File Reference