[QUESTION] Ability to publish custom rules with custom modes

[indiVar0508]

What kind of feedback?

General marketplace issue

Item Type (if applicable)

Marketplace UI/Functionality

Item Name (if applicable)

my-custom-mode

Description

Hi

Have been exploring roo-code recently for some time,
I had 2 queries,

1. How can one add custom modes which also have custom rules, to be made available in roo marketplace, and how will it work?, so when i click install for my custom mode ( if added) the rules associated are also included how would that be packaged?
   When i install mode i also want the rules of my custom mode be installed globally / project level.

2. Mode Teams - multiple orchestrators with directives exclusive to their team #4562 mentions that Mode teams went stale/not planned, but strategies like SPARC, or any custom strategy build where i leverage sub-modes as well, it would be helpful to have one click install features, where i can have a parent mode (custom orchestrator/boomerang + custom sub-modes) available to me

Thank you for helping !

Additional Details (optional)

No response

Checklist

• I've searched existing issues for duplicates

[roomote-v0]

I have looked into the codebase to help answer your questions. Here is what I found:

1. Custom modes with rules in the marketplace

The marketplace currently supports installing modes and MCPs. When a mode is installed from the marketplace, the SimpleInstaller calls CustomModesManager.importModeWithRules(), which already handles importing a mode along with its associated rules directory. The export counterpart (exportModeWithRules()) bundles a mode config with any rules from its rules-{slug}/ directory into a single YAML document.

So the infrastructure for packaging rules with modes already exists on the client side. However, the marketplace content itself is served from a remote API (/api/marketplace/modes), and the submission/publishing process for contributing new modes to the marketplace is managed server-side -- that part is outside this repository. For contributing to the marketplace, I would recommend checking with the Roo Code team on their process for community submissions, or looking at the Roo Code community resources.

In the meantime, you can share custom modes (with rules) by using the Export Mode feature in the UI, which produces a YAML file that others can import via Import Mode. This preserves both the mode configuration and its rules.

2. Mode teams / orchestrator with sub-modes

As you noted, the mode teams feature referenced in #4562 went stale. Currently, modes are independent -- there is no built-in concept of a "parent mode + sub-modes" bundle in the marketplace or in the mode configuration schema (ModeConfig in @roo-code/types).

That said, the existing mode system does support strategies like SPARC through individual custom modes that reference each other via the new_task and switch_mode tools. The missing piece is bundling them for one-click install.

A potential implementation approach for mode bundles could be:

1. Extend the MarketplaceItem type to support a new "mode-bundle" type
2. Bundle content would contain multiple mode configs (with their rules) in a single YAML document
3. The SimpleInstaller would iterate through each mode in the bundle and call importModeWithRules for each
4. The marketplace UI would show bundles as a distinct item type

This would be a meaningful feature addition. If you are interested in seeing this implemented, I would suggest opening a dedicated feature request issue specifically for "mode bundles" so it can be tracked and discussed separately from the marketplace submission question.

Please mention @roomote in a comment if you would like me to proceed with a concrete implementation plan for mode bundles, or if you have follow-up questions.

[indiVar0508]

I would be interested to contribute if maintainers are interested to have second option as a feature !, i can take a stab at it, or if any particular direction that is already in your mind i can explore