Kraken Mod Manager (KMM)

Kraken Mod Manager (KMM) is a modern, lightweight, cross-platform mod manager for Kerbal Space Program (KSP). It takes architectural inspiration from CKAN, but is built with TypeScript, Node.js, and Vue.

Tame the modding kraken: discover mods from the official CKAN registry, plan dependencies, and install or uninstall with a local-first workflow.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24.18.0 or newer (.nvmrc pins the development version)
• Corepack-enabled pnpm 11.13.1 or newer

Development

corepack enable
pnpm install
pnpm dev

The local UI is served at http://127.0.0.1:5173 by Vite. API requests are proxied to the Express service at http://127.0.0.1:31415. To run the production-shaped service after a build:

pnpm build
pnpm start

The backend binds only to loopback. Set KMM_PORT to choose another local port, and KMM_OPEN_BROWSER=false to suppress opening the default browser.

Architecture

• apps/frontend — Vue 3, Vite, and Tailwind user interface.
• apps/backend — local Express API and production static-file server.
• packages/contracts — validated API contracts shared between client and server.
• packages/core — framework-independent KSP detection, CKAN metadata parsing, registry indexing, dependency planning, and install/uninstall policy.

KSP setup

On first launch, Kraken searches standard Steam, GOG, and Epic locations for a valid KSP executable. If it cannot find the game, select the installation from the directory-only browser. The browser exposes directory names only, follows neither path traversal nor symbolic links outside its explicit roots, and validates the selected folder before it is saved. On Linux and macOS its roots are the user's home directory and filesystem root; on Windows it exposes every available drive root.

The active installation is stored atomically in config.json:

• Windows: %APPDATA%/Kraken Mod Manager
• Linux: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kraken-mod-manager (or ~/.config/kraken-mod-manager)
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Kraken Mod Manager

CKAN registry

After an installation is configured, refresh the official CKAN-meta archive to build a local searchable index. The cache is stored separately from config:

• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%/Kraken Mod Manager/Cache
• Linux: $XDG_CACHE_HOME/kraken-mod-manager (or ~/.cache/kraken-mod-manager)
• macOS: ~/Library/Caches/Kraken Mod Manager

Mod install and uninstall

Kraken downloads mod ZIPs, verifies download_hash when present, extracts with Zip Slip rejection, and installs according to .ckan install stanzas (or CKAN defaults). Managed installs are tracked in install-manifest.json; uninstall removes only those tracked files. Inventory also detects top-level GameData folders that match known registry identifiers.

Before install, Kraken can dry-run a dependency plan from CKAN depends / conflicts (POST /api/v1/mods/:identifier/plan). When confirmed, hard dependencies install first in one job (installDependencies: true). Optional recommends / suggests are reported in the plan only.

Install progress is streamed with Server-Sent Events on GET /api/v1/jobs/:jobId/events.

The local API includes GET /api/v1/health, GET /api/v1/ksp/installations, GET/PUT /api/v1/config, GET /api/v1/fs/directories, GET /api/v1/registry, POST /api/v1/registry/refresh, GET /api/v1/mods, GET /api/v1/installed-mods, POST /api/v1/mods/:identifier/plan, POST /api/v1/mods/:identifier/install, DELETE /api/v1/mods/:identifier, GET /api/v1/jobs/:jobId, and GET /api/v1/jobs/:jobId/events.

Branding

Project artwork lives in assets/:

File	Use
logo.png	Square mark (512×512) for README and general branding
logo-256.png	Smaller square mark
logo-banner.png	Wide banner (1024×558)

Web favicons and PWA-sized icons are under apps/frontend/public/ (favicon.ico, apple-touch-icon.png, icon-192.png, icon-512.png).

Verification

pnpm lint
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm build

Dependency updates are managed by Dependabot (.github/dependabot.yml). See the roadmap and architecture decisions for the planned work.