Adding a Custom Repository to Wabbajack

This is a guide for how you can make your own custom repository for making your Mod Lists show up on the Wabbajack in app gallery as unofficial Mod Lists.
This guide requires you to have already completed Getting CDN Access.

Create a Github Repository

To start with, log into your Github Account and create a new repository by clicking the + next to your avatar:

Step1

On the next page, give the repository a name, make sure it's set to public, and have Github create a README.md by default. Click Create repository

Step2

On the next page, click Add file

Step3

Set the name of the file to modlists.json.

Next you'll need to fill out all the fields for your modlist.

Filling out the fields of modlists.json

Below is a template for modlists.json, and an overview of all the fields that should be filled in accordingly.

Title

The name of your modlist.

Example: John's Skyrim Makeover

Description

A brief summary of what your modlist has on offer.

Example: A lightweight visual makeover of Skyrim that sticks to the original look!

Author

Your (nick)name.

Example: JohnDoe

Maintainers

This should include your GitHub name and any additional contributors that will be publishing your modlist. Needs to be prefixed with "github/".

Example: github/JohnDoe

Game

The name of the game you're targeting with this modlist. Using a game that's not on the gallery yet? Wabbajack first needs to support it. You can find the list of game names Wabbajack supports by clicking here.

Example: skyrimspecialedition

NSFW

You need to set this to true if your modlist contains explicit sexual content added by mods (sex frameworks). If your list just contains nudity, there is no need to set this to true.

Image Contains Title

This determines whether your list name is shown without any mouse hover in the gallery. You can use this if your modlist image does not contain the name of your modlist, but we encourage you to put it in the image instead of using this.

Force Down

If you want to disable your list from being downloadable in the gallery, setting this to true will force the modlist to be 'under maintenance' in the gallery.

Download Metadata

You should copy the contents of the metadata Wabbajack puts out in the .wabbajack.meta.json file next to the .wabbajack file after compilation here.

Version

The version in semantic format. Other formats are not allowed!

Example: 1.0.0

Full template (adjust accordingly)

[
  {
    "$type": "ModListMetadata, Wabbajack.Lib",
    "title": "Johns Skyrim Makeover",
    "description": "A complete visual makeover of Skyrim while sticking to the original system requirements!",
    "author": "JohnDoe",
    "maintainers": [
      "github/JohnDoe"
    ],
    "game": "skyrimspecialedition",
    "tags": [
      "SFW",
      "Steam",
      "Vanilla+"
    ],
    "nsfw": false,
    "image_contains_title": false,
    "force_down": false,
    "links": {
      "$type": "Links, Wabbajack.Lib",
      "image": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dylan-Perry/dp-modlists/main/wj_thumbnail-web.webp",
      "readme": "https://keizaal.github.io/Keizaal/",
      "download": "https://authored-files.wabbajack.org/Halgaris Helper.wabbajack_29d245c9-5f7f-4394-b600-a22e43427337",
      "machineURL": "JohnsSkyrimMakeover",
      "discordURL": "https://discord.gg/wabbajack"
    },
    "download_metadata": {
      "$type": "DownloadMetadata, Wabbajack.Lib",
      "Hash": "e1+K7eJbDJw=",
      "Size": 0,
      "NumberOfArchives": 14,
      "SizeOfArchives": 135206078,
      "NumberOfInstalledFiles": 1311,
      "SizeOfInstalledFiles": 336453775
    },
    "version": "1.0.0"
  }
]

Once you're done with the contents here, validate your JSON and click Commit new file afterwards.

Step5

Adding your repository

Now you need to add your repository to the Wabbajack master repository list. View your modlists.json file in GitHub, click on the Raw button and copy the URL on the page that opens.

Step6

Now navigate to this file: https://github.com/wabbajack-tools/mod-lists/blob/master/repositories.json and select the Edit button.

Step8

Add a new line (don't forget the comma after the last line) and give your repository a unique name, and paste in the link you copied above. We suggest using your username instead of the modlist name itself, since you'll need to put any additional modlists of your own on the same repository.

Note: URL MUST be in the following format: https://raw.githubusercontent.com///main/modlists.json. Obtainable by opening the modlists.json file clicking the 'Raw' button, but make sure to remove the /refs/heads part out of it that GitHub adds here. Copy the URL on the page that opens.

Step9

Click "Create a new Branch..." and "Propose Changes".

Step10

On the next page, click "Create Pull Request".

Step10

We regularly check pull requests, but feel free to give us an extra heads up in the Wabbajack Discord. Once the PR is merged, your modlist should show up in the Wabbajack UI.

Common Errors

When uploading a new list to your repository, there are several errors that you may encounter.

You do not have access to this list

If you get this error, chances are the list's definition does not include your Github username in the list of maintainers. Remember to prefix your username with github/ so if your username is JohnDoe then the maintainer list should have an entry of "github/JohnDoe".

Namespaced list required

Lists names provided in the UI should be namespaced with the repo name. The format in of the machineURL entry in Wabbajack is <repo>/<list-name>. So if you have a repo named JohnsLists and your list that you are updating is JohnsSkyrimMakeover then the machineURL field in WJ's compiler UI should be set to JohnsLists/JohnsSkyrimMakeover. This only needs to be done within Wabbajack itself - the machineURL entry of the modlists within your GitHub repository does not need the repository itself as a prefix.

404 Error when updating a `wj-featured/` list

The repo wj-featured is managed by the wabbajack team, you'll need to request membership to the WJ modlist team group, or just go and make your own repo.

404 errors when uploading lists

You probably forgot to set the permissions on your Github Personal access token, verify that's all setup correctly as per these instructions

Wabbajack Documentation