Running the packwiz server

There are multiple ways to go about the next step. We'll cover the following two:

• Running the packwiz server within the locally cloned repository (all operating systems)
• Running the packwiz server using your PATH (Windows)

For both methods, you will have to download the latest packwiz binary from the GitHub workflows. Click on the most recent "Workflow run" (ignore the names of them, just click the most recent one) and scroll down to "Artifacts". Download the correct file for your operating system.

There are, of course, many ways to do this depending on your operating system. For a special case example, when using Nix or NixOS, this repository automatically adds packwiz to your shell when you open your shell inside the modpack's source code (as long as you allow direnv to be loaded). If you don't know what any of that means, don't worry about it!

If you're interested in the other features of packwiz, take a look at their wiki: https://packwiz.infra.link/tutorials/creating/getting-started/

Running the packwiz server within your locally cloned repository

This is the easiest and most universal method to install, however other methods may be worth it for ease of use, or if you plan on using packwiz in other modpacks' repositories in the future.

• Unzip the archive you downloaded and extract the packwiz file.
• Navigate to the folder where your cloned repository is.
• Move the packwiz file into that folder.

Simple as that! You can execute the file by running ./packwiz serve (on Linux or macOS) or ./packwiz.exe serve (on Windows) in the terminal while targeting the cloned repository's directory.

Now your Prism instance will automatically update when you start the game as long as the packwiz server is running (and you've saved your files). Note that this does not update the game as you edit the files in the repository, you have to restart the game every time you wish to update the files.

If you want, you could also write a batch script (here's an example, or you can write an equivalent shell script if you're on Linux or macOS) that runs the packwiz jar file similarly to how it is run at the startup of the instance, that you can run to reload the modpack, without restarting the game.

Running the packwiz server using your PATH (Windows only)

If you're tired of downloading or copying the entire packwiz binary every time you start developing a new modpack, or you're tired of typing the ./ and .exe in ./packwiz.exe serve every time you start your terminal, you may wish to add the packwiz EXE to your PATH variable. This allows you to run packwiz serve from any folder that contains the correct pack.toml and index.toml files for packwiz to reference, without needing another packwiz binary installed in the same folder.

This process is the same on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

• Unzip the archive you downloaded and extract the packwiz executable to a safe permanent location, ideally outside the cloned repository, such as in your Documents folder.
• Open the start menu (press the Windows key) and search for "View advanced system settings".
• Click on "Environment Variables".
• Under the "System variables" list, find "Path" and select it, then click "Edit".
• In the dialog window that just opened, click "New" then add the full directory to the packwiz.exe file as a new item in the list.
• Click "OK" on every window until the system settings have closed entirely.

You will now be able to execute packwiz serve from any directory on your computer. Bearing in mind, of course, that it will only work in a folder where packwiz has been initialised (the Create: Astral repository already has it initialised).