Add a package

1. Draft the YAML

./aurtomator.sh draft my-package

It reads the .SRCINFO of the package in the AUR, writes packages/my-package.yml with a strategy, its upstream fields and current, and runs steps 3 and 4 below on the file, see Draft a package. When no rule matches the url or a source of the package, it writes nothing, and you write the file from the sample:

./aurtomator.sh sample > packages/my-package.yml

2. Edit the YAML

name: my-package
strategy: github-release
upstream:
  project: owner/repo

name is the pkgbase on the AUR, the name of its git repository. It is the package name, except for a split package: liblinear with pkgname=(liblinear python-liblinear) has the name liblinear, and python-liblinear gets no YAML of its own. Strategy reference has YAML examples for all 16 strategies.

3. Validate the YAML

./aurtomator.sh validate-pkg my-package

It checks the YAML syntax, the required fields and the fields of the strategy.

4. Test the version check

./aurtomator.sh check-update my-package

It runs the strategy and prints the latest upstream version.

5. Test the update

./aurtomator.sh update-pkg my-package 1.2.3 --dry-run

It clones the AUR repository, sets pkgver, regenerates the checksums and .SRCINFO, runs namcap when it is installed, and shows the diff of the PKGBUILD without a push. It changes no file of your repository.

The dry run runs the PKGBUILD of the AUR on your machine: the audit, the check of the source URLs, namcap, makepkg --printsrcinfo, updpkgsums and makepkg --verifysource source it, with your SSH key in reach of its code. When someone else can push to the AUR package, read its PKGBUILD first.

6. Push

Commit the package YAML and push it to your repository. A push to main runs Validate packages. Check AUR Package Updates runs on the schedule 17 * * * * of .github/workflows/check-updates.yml, and GitHub starts only part of those runs: in October 2026 a repository with this schedule got about five a day. Actions > Check AUR Package Updates > Run workflow starts a run at once. A run started by hand on a branch other than the default one reads the package YAMLs of that branch, pushes their updates to the AUR and commits its results to that branch. The schedule runs on the default branch alone.

Draft a package

./aurtomator.sh draft my-package

The command clones the AUR repository of the package and reads its .SRCINFO as data: pkgver, epoch, url and every source and source_<arch> of the pkgbase section. It never reads or runs the PKGBUILD. An unknown name stops it with No AUR package my-package, and an existing packages/my-package.yml stops it and stays as it is.

The first source that a rule matches decides. A rule reads the URL after a <file>:: prefix, without its query and fragment, and a local file or a signature (.sig, .asc, .sign) matches none:

Source	Strategy	Fields
`https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/releases/download/...`	`github-release`	`project`
`https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/archive/...`	`github-tag`	`project`
`git+https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>`	`git-latest` with `type: github` for a `-git` package, else `github-tag`	`project`
`https://<host>/<group>/<project>/-/archive/...`, GitLab on any host	`gitlab-tag`	`host`, `project`
`git+https://gitlab.com/<group>/<project>`	`git-latest` with `type: gitlab` for a `-git` package, else `gitlab-tag`	`host`, `project`
`https://codeberg.org/<owner>/<repo>/releases/download/...`	`gitea-release`	`host`, `project`
`https://codeberg.org/<owner>/<repo>/archive/...`	`gitea-tag`	`host`, `project`
any other `git+https://...`	`git-latest` with `type: git` for a `-git` package, else `git-tag`	`url`
`https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/source/<letter>/<name>/...`, or the same path on `pypi.io`	`pypi`	`registry`
`https://registry.npmjs.org/<name>/-/...`, with `@<scope>/<name>` too	`npm`	`registry`
`https://static.crates.io/crates/<name>/...`, `https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/<name>/...`	`crates`	`registry`
`https://download.kde.org/<path>/.../<project>-<pkgver>.tar.xz`	`kde-tarball`	`project` and `path` where they differ from the defaults

A -git package is one whose name ends in -git, as the Arch guidelines name them, since .SRCINFO does not show a pkgver(). A git-latest draft takes branch from the #branch= of its source. The path of a KDE tarball is its directory without a last src/ and without a last directory of the version or the series: stable/plasma/6.9.5/oxygen-6.9.5.tar.xz gives stable/plasma, as kde-tarball reads it.

When no source matches, the url of the package decides: a https://github.com/<owner>/<repo> gives github-tag, https://gitlab.com/<group>/<project> gives gitlab-tag, and https://codeberg.org/<owner>/<repo> gives gitea-tag. When that fails too, the command prints the url, every source it read and the command that writes the file from the sample, and exits with status 1.

The file holds name, strategy, the fields of upstream, and current from pkgver. Each value is written as a string, so quotes or $(...) from a .SRCINFO stay text. A pkgver that current cannot hold, or a control character other than a tab in the .SRCINFO, stops the command before it writes the file. With an epoch other than 0, it prints the warning of the PKGBUILD audit. Then it runs validate-pkg.sh and check-update.sh on the file, which shows a strategy that reads another version than current. When either fails, the file stays for an edit, and the command exits with status 1. A -git package whose pkgver has the form of git describe fails validate-pkg until upstream.describe is set, see git-latest.