Presets

Presets are optional ULIS source trees. You can layer them under your base config (project .ulis/ or global ~/.ulis/), or install selected presets by themselves. Use them for shared team defaults, stack-specific skills, or the curated bundles that ship with @nejcm/ulis.

For merge mechanics in the architecture doc, see Specification §2.2. For flags and ulis preset, see CLI Reference.

What presets do

• Presets use the same on-disk layout as a normal source tree: agents/, skills/, mcp.yaml, raw/, and so on (Source Layout).
• They are merged before the base source, in the order you pass them. The base wins when the same agent, skill, or config key conflicts.
• Multiple presets merge left to right (--preset a,b,c → a, then b, then c, then base).
• Preset-only install merges only the selected presets and does not read a project/global source.

Where presets are resolved

1. User-global: ~/.ulis/presets/<name>/ — your own or org presets.
2. Bundled: directories shipped with the CLI (next to the installed package). If a folder exists in both places with the same <name>, the user tree is used.

The preset identifier is always the directory name <name>, not the optional name field inside preset.yaml.

Run this for the list on your machine (folder names, user vs bundled, descriptions):

ulis preset list

Optional preset.yaml

At the root of each preset folder you can add preset.yaml for display metadata only (listings and the TUI). It does not change the CLI name. Field reference: Preset metadata.

# preset.yaml
name: Team default
description: Shared agents and rules for our org
version: 1

Example layout

~/.ulis/presets/team-default/
├── preset.yaml
├── skills.yaml
└── rules/
    └── style.md

CLI usage

Apply one or more presets (comma-separated) when building or installing:

ulis build --preset react-web,backend
ulis install --preset team-default --yes

Install selected presets without a base source:

ulis preset install team-default --target claude,codex --yes
ulis preset install backend react-web --global --backup

• Interactive install without --yes: if a name is missing, you may be prompted to continue without it.
• --yes: missing preset names fail immediately (no prompt).
• ulis preset install accepts comma-separated or repeated names and writes generated output to a temporary directory that is removed after install.

ulis preset / ulis preset list / ulis preset -l lists user and bundled presets.

TUI

In ulis tui, normal project/global/custom-source workflows call these Preset layers. Toggle them in the plan to apply them to validate, build, and install. The same merge rules apply as on the CLI.

The Install presets only workflow calls them Preset sources. That flow installs only the selected presets, does not require the current source to exist, and shows a review screen for destination, platforms, backups, and preset extensions before writing files.

Further reading

• Getting Started — optional presets
• Examples (short pointer and cross-links)
• Field Reference — preset.yaml