AntOS Library — packer (reference)

The packer library's design and native core — archive read/write. ZIP today, format-agnostic by name. The script-facing API is luau_packer.

What it is

Create, extract, and inspect archives, including reading a single entry's bytes without unpacking the whole thing. Works over the drive-letter VFS, so archives and their targets can be on any volume.

Why packer, not zip

zip names a specific format; packer names the job. The implemented format today is ZIP, but the library is deliberately format-neutral so tar, gzip, or others can slot in behind the same pack/unpack/list/read calls. Format is chosen by the archive's extension (or an explicit opts.format), dispatched inside the core — adding a format is a core addition, not a new library or a changed API.

Design notes

• Streamed against the VFS — pack/unpack read and write through the same VFS as io, so a large archive isn't held whole in RAM, and DBFS destinations are catalogued like any other write.
• read without extract — pulling one entry's bytes straight out is the common case for config/asset bundles, so it's a first-class call rather than unpack-then-read.

Native core — libantos_packer

sys_packer (the former sys_zip) wraps the ZIP/deflate implementation behind a format-dispatch layer; the binding marshals entry lists and byte buffers. No Luau dependency.

Related

• luau_packer — the script API · antos_fs · antos_io · AntOS Libraries hub