---
name: "apk-add"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "apk-tools"
version: "3.0.8-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/apk-add"
---

# apk-add(8)

add or update constraints to world and commit changes

## NAME

apk add - add or update constraints to *world* and commit changes

## SYNOPSIS

**apk add** \[\<*options*\>...\] \[*constraints*\|*file*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

**apk add** adds or updates given constraints to *world* (see [**apk-world**(5)](/apk-world/5.md)) and commit changes to disk. This usually involves installing new packages, but may also cause other changes to the installed packages.

To upgrade individual packages without modifying *world* use [**apk-fix**(8)](/apk-fix/8.md).

By default **apk** tries to select a set of packages so that all constraints are satisfied. This means that some packages can be held back in an older version if there is direct or implicit dependencies to the older version.

If a *file* is added, a constraint against the package identity hash will be add. This constraint ensure that the exact file gets installed and kept. To later upgrade or downgrade back to a repository version, use **apk upgrade --available**.

## OPTIONS

**apk add** supports the commit options described in [**apk**(8)](/apk/8.md), as well as the following options:

- **--initdb**

  Initialize a new package database.

- **--latest**, **-l**

  Always choose the latest package by version. However, the versions considered are based on the package pinning. Primarily this overrides the default heuristic and will cause an error to displayed if all dependencies cannot be satisfied.

- **--no-chown**

  Deprecated alias for --usermode.

- **--upgrade**, **-u**

  Upgrade *packages* and their dependencies. Normally **apk add** will avoid changing installed package unless it is required by the newly added *packages* or their dependencies. This changes the default preference to upgrading the package to the latest installable version.

- **--usermode**

  Create usermode database with --initdb. In usermode, apk will operate in such a way that root access is not required. Currently this implies:

  - •

    checking that we are running as non-root

  - •

    not changing file owner or group

  - •

    not setting system xattrs

  This implies that the installation might not be fully functional. However, this is useful mode for testing purposes or to create chroot where some specific applications can run as non-root.

- **--virtual**, **-t** *NAME*

  Create virtual package *NAME* with given dependencies. This new package will get the *packages* as dependencies instead of *world*. Finally the *NAME* is added to *world*. An optional version specifier for the virtual package can be given via syntax *NAME*=*VERSION*. The version defaults to synthesized version based on time.

  One can use this to ensure that selected set of packages are installed, and later the temporary modification be undone with [**apk-del**(8)](/apk-del/8.md) *NAME* without removing packages that were installed earlier.