Recipes, Feature Packs & the Marketplace

Alchemist projects are built from composable building blocks. Before you browse the Marketplace or start a new project from a recipe, it helps to understand the vocabulary — three distinct concepts that appear throughout the platform and the docs.

The Three Concepts

Feature Pack

A Feature Pack is an atomic, reusable capability: a named unit of functionality with its own files, migrations, tests, and agent-guidance notes. Feature Packs are the smallest unit of composition in the Alchemist template system.

Examples of Feature Packs:

Pack	What it provides
`core-platform`	Baseline auth (OTP + optional OAuth), JWT session middleware, dashboard shell
`commerce-catalog`	Server-rendered product catalog pages with Postgres, dynamic sitemap, JSON-LD
`commerce-cart-checkout`	Session-aware cart, Stripe Checkout integration, orders/inventory
`cms-content`	Multi-client editorial workflow and content model
`lead-contact-capture`	Contact-form + newsletter capture with transactional email
`seo-social-metadata`	Open Graph, canonical URL, sitemap/robots.txt

Feature Packs declare their dependencies on each other, so the composition engine can resolve the full dependency graph before a single file is written.

Recipe

A Recipe is a versioned composition of Feature Packs, bundled with sensible defaults, configuration knobs, workflow instructions, agent guidance, UI conventions, and seller-supplied assets. Starting a project from a Recipe gives you a coherent, tested stack rather than assembling packs by hand.

Five first-party Recipes are available today:

Recipe	Best for
Web App (`web-app`)	Full-stack SaaS starter — Hono API + Svelte 5 SPA, auth, org model, design system
Agent Storefront (`agent-storefront`)	Sell access to an existing Chipp agent — landing page + app container
Commerce Storefront (`commerce-storefront`)	SEO e-commerce — server-rendered catalog, cart, Stripe Checkout, seller dashboard
Agency CMS (`agency-cms`)	Multi-client editorial CMS — many client sites from one app, editorial workflow, SEO
Landing Page (`landing-page`)	Funded-startup-quality marketing site — hero, social proof, lead capture, SEO

ℹ️

Additional first-party Recipes (api, mcp-server) and third-party Recipes from verified sellers are available in the Marketplace browse view. The five above are highlighted at project creation because they cover the most common starting points.

Marketplace Listing

A Marketplace Listing is the commercial wrapper around a Recipe, a Feature Pack, or a bundle. A Listing is what you browse, purchase, and license. It contains:

The published version of the Recipe or Feature Pack
Pricing (one-time license fee + optional Maintenance subscription)
Seller identity and support contact
Changelog, compatibility notes, and a demo/screenshots
Licensing terms (one project per license, source-visible, customizable)

How They Fit Together

plaintext

Feature Pack A  +  Feature Pack B  +  Feature Pack C
          \               |               /
           \              |              /
              RECIPE  (versioned composition)
                          |
              Marketplace Listing  (priced, published)
                          |
              License  (one project, perpetual use of that version)
                          |
     optional Maintenance Subscription  (updates, support, reconciliation)

You can think of it as layers:

Feature Packs are Lego bricks — small, tested, reusable.
Recipes are curated Lego sets — a complete build plan with a clear outcome.
Marketplace Listings are the store shelf — priced, versioned, with seller info and licensing terms attached.
A License grants one project the perpetual right to use and customize a specific version’s source code.
A Maintenance Subscription extends that right to receive compatible updates, AI-assisted reconciliation, security notices, and seller support.

Quick-Start Paths

Starting a new project from a Recipe — go to the project creation flow in the Alchemist dashboard, choose “Start from a Recipe,” browse or search the five first-party recipes, inspect the included Feature Packs and configuration knobs, confirm any license cost, and create. The platform provisions the project using the canonical recipe composition path. Detailed walkthrough

Adding a Feature Pack to an existing project — open your project’s Marketplace tab (or the standalone Marketplace), find the pack, run the install analysis, review the planned file changes and any conflicts, and apply. AI reconciliation handles merge conflicts in modified files. Detailed walkthrough

Publishing your own Recipe or Pack — see the Seller Guide for how to package, price, publish, and support your listing.

Frequently Asked Questions

See the Marketplace FAQ for answers to common questions about licensing, maintenance, pricing, and the seller experience.