diff --git a/include/kappa/fetch/recipe.hpp b/include/kappa/fetch/recipe.hpp
index e9ba9c7..efb7c4a 100644
--- a/include/kappa/fetch/recipe.hpp
+++ b/include/kappa/fetch/recipe.hpp
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include "kappa/dsl/system.hpp"
+
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
@@ -13,7 +15,12 @@ struct RecipeResult {
     std::string error;
 };
 
+// Legacy: flat URL list (backward compat with remotes = [...])
 RecipeResult fetch_recipe(const std::string& name,
                           const std::vector<std::string>& remotes);
 
+// Index-aware: named repos with channels, mirrors, and cached indexes
+RecipeResult fetch_recipe_from_repos(const std::string& name,
+                                     const std::vector<dsl::RepoDef>& repos);
+
 } // namespace kappa::fetch
diff --git a/src/fetch/recipe.cpp b/src/fetch/recipe.cpp
index 0f37ad8..f3e8a81 100644
--- a/src/fetch/recipe.cpp
+++ b/src/fetch/recipe.cpp
@@ -125,4 +125,236 @@ RecipeResult fetch_recipe(const std::string& name,
     return result;
 }
 
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Index-aware recipe fetching
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+static std::string sanitize_filename(const std::string& s) {
+    std::string out = s;
+    for (auto& c : out) {
+        if (c == '/' || c == '\\' || c == ':') c = '_';
+    }
+    return out;
+}
+
+static int exec_curl_conditional(const std::string& output_path,
+                                 const std::string& url,
+                                 const std::string& time_cond_path) {
+    std::vector<std::string> argv = {"curl", "-Lsf", "-o", output_path};
+    if (!time_cond_path.empty()) {
+        argv.push_back("-z");
+        argv.push_back(time_cond_path);
+    }
+    argv.push_back(url);
+
+    std::vector<std::vector<char>> argv_storage(argv.size());
+    std::vector<char*> cargs;
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < argv.size(); ++i) {
+        argv_storage[i].assign(argv[i].begin(), argv[i].end());
+        argv_storage[i].push_back('\0');
+        cargs.push_back(argv_storage[i].data());
+    }
+    cargs.push_back(nullptr);
+
+    pid_t pid = fork();
+    if (pid == 0) {
+        execvp(cargs[0], cargs.data());
+        _exit(127);
+    }
+    if (pid < 0) return -1;
+    int status = 0;
+    while (waitpid(pid, &status, 0) == -1 && errno == EINTR) {}
+    return WIFEXITED(status) ? WEXITSTATUS(status) : -1;
+}
+
+static std::optional<dsl::IndexDef> load_cached_index(
+    const std::string& repo_name,
+    const std::string& channel) {
+    auto key = sanitize_filename(repo_name + "-" + channel) + ".kap";
+    auto path = paths::cache_dir() / "indexes" / key;
+    if (!std::filesystem::exists(path)) return std::nullopt;
+
+    std::ifstream in(path);
+    if (!in) return std::nullopt;
+    std::ostringstream buf;
+    buf << in.rdbuf();
+    try {
+        return dsl::parse_index(buf.str());
+    } catch (...) {
+        return std::nullopt;
+    }
+}
+
+static bool download_index(const dsl::RepoDef& repo,
+                           const std::string& channel,
+                           const std::filesystem::path& cache_path) {
+    auto url = repo.url;
+    if (!url.empty() && url.back() != '/') url += '/';
+    url += channel + "/index.kap";
+
+    auto temp = cache_path.string() + ".tmp";
+
+    // Try primary URL
+    int rc = exec_curl_conditional(temp, url, cache_path.string());
+    if (rc != 0) {
+        // Try mirrors
+        for (auto& mirror : repo.mirrors) {
+            auto murl = mirror;
+            if (!murl.empty() && murl.back() != '/') murl += '/';
+            murl += channel + "/index.kap";
+            rc = exec_curl_conditional(temp, murl, "");
+            if (rc == 0) break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (rc != 0) return false;
+
+    // If curl returned 0 but the file might be empty (304 not modified),
+    // move temp to cache only if it has content
+    std::error_code ec;
+    if (std::filesystem::file_size(temp, ec) > 0 || ec) {
+        std::filesystem::rename(temp, cache_path, ec);
+        return !ec;
+    }
+
+    // 304: no change, remove temp
+    std::filesystem::remove(temp, ec);
+    return true; // cache is still valid
+}
+
+static std::optional<std::string> download_recipe(
+    const std::string& name,
+    const dsl::RepoDef& repo,
+    const std::string& channel) {
+    auto remote_path = channel + "/" + name + ".kap";
+    auto temp = paths::temp_dir() / (name + ".kap.tmp");
+
+    // Build URL list: primary + mirrors
+    std::vector<std::string> urls;
+    auto url = repo.url;
+    if (!url.empty() && url.back() != '/') url += '/';
+    urls.push_back(url + remote_path);
+    for (auto& mirror : repo.mirrors) {
+        auto murl = mirror;
+        if (!murl.empty() && murl.back() != '/') murl += '/';
+        urls.push_back(murl + remote_path);
+    }
+
+    for (auto& u : urls) {
+        int rc = exec_curl_conditional(temp.string(), u, "");
+        if (rc == 0) {
+            std::ifstream in(temp);
+            if (!in) { std::filesystem::remove(temp); continue; }
+            std::ostringstream buf;
+            buf << in.rdbuf();
+            in.close();
+            std::filesystem::remove(temp);
+            return buf.str();
+        }
+    }
+    return std::nullopt;
+}
+
+RecipeResult fetch_recipe_from_repos(
+    const std::string& name,
+    const std::vector<dsl::RepoDef>& repos) {
+    RecipeResult result;
+
+    // Check cached version first
+    auto cache_path = paths::packages_dir() / (name + ".kap");
+    std::string cached_version;
+    if (std::filesystem::exists(cache_path)) {
+        std::ifstream in(cache_path);
+        if (in) {
+            std::ostringstream buf;
+            buf << in.rdbuf();
+            try {
+                auto pkg = dsl::parse(buf.str());
+                cached_version = pkg.version;
+            } catch (...) {}
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Ensure indexes cache directory exists
+    std::error_code ec;
+    std::filesystem::create_directories(paths::cache_dir() / "indexes", ec);
+
+    // Sort repos by priority (descending)
+    std::vector<const dsl::RepoDef*> sorted;
+    for (auto& r : repos) sorted.push_back(&r);
+    std::sort(sorted.begin(), sorted.end(),
+              [](auto* a, auto* b) { return a->priority > b->priority; });
+
+    std::string best_content;
+    std::string best_version;
+
+    for (auto* repo : sorted) {
+        for (auto& channel : repo->channels) {
+            // Check/update the index for this repo+channel
+            auto idx_key = sanitize_filename(repo->name + "-" + channel);
+            auto idx_cache = paths::cache_dir() / "indexes" / (idx_key + ".kap");
+
+            // Download fresh index (conditional on cache)
+            if (!download_index(*repo, channel, idx_cache)) continue;
+
+            // Load and search the index
+            auto idx = load_cached_index(repo->name, channel);
+            if (!idx) continue;
+
+            bool found = false;
+            for (auto& entry : idx->packages) {
+                if (entry.name != name) continue;
+                found = true;
+                break;
+            }
+            if (!found) continue;
+
+            // Download the recipe
+            auto content = download_recipe(name, *repo, channel);
+            if (!content) continue;
+
+            // Parse the downloaded recipe to get version
+            std::string remote_version;
+            try {
+                auto pkg = dsl::parse(*content);
+                remote_version = pkg.version;
+            } catch (...) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            if (remote_version > best_version) {
+                best_version = remote_version;
+                best_content = std::move(*content);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (best_content.empty()) {
+        if (!cached_version.empty()) {
+            result.ok = true;
+            result.path = cache_path.string();
+            result.version = cached_version;
+            return result;
+        }
+        result.error = "package '" + name + "' not found in any repo";
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    // Update cache if remote is newer
+    if (best_version > cached_version || cached_version.empty()) {
+        std::ofstream out(cache_path);
+        if (!out) {
+            result.error = "cannot write to cache";
+            return result;
+        }
+        out << best_content;
+        result.updated = true;
+    }
+
+    result.ok = true;
+    result.path = cache_path.string();
+    result.version = best_version;
+    return result;
+}
+
 } // namespace kappa::fetch
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index ad7d271..43e396d 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -132,7 +132,26 @@ static resolve::Registry build_registry(const dsl::SystemConfig& cfg) {
             }
         }
 
-        // If not found locally, try remotes
+        // If not found locally, try repos (index-aware) first, then legacy remotes
+        if (!found && !cfg.repos.empty()) {
+            auto result = fetch::fetch_recipe_from_repos(pref.name, cfg.repos);
+            if (result.ok && !result.path.empty()) {
+                std::ifstream in(result.path);
+                if (in) {
+                    std::ostringstream buf;
+                    buf << in.rdbuf();
+                    try {
+                        auto pkg = dsl::parse(buf.str());
+                        registry[pkg.name] = std::move(pkg);
+                        found = true;
+                    } catch (const std::exception& e) {
+                        std::cerr << "warning: parse error in remote recipe " << pref.name << ": " << e.what() << "\n";
+                    } catch (...) {
+                        std::cerr << "warning: unknown parse error in remote recipe " << pref.name << "\n";
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
         if (!found && !cfg.remotes.empty()) {
             auto result = fetch::fetch_recipe(pref.name, cfg.remotes);
             if (result.ok && !result.path.empty()) {
@@ -308,19 +327,26 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
         }
         try {
             std::vector<std::string> remotes;
+            std::vector<dsl::RepoDef> repos;
             auto config_path = std::filesystem::path(paths::system_dir()) / "config.kap";
             if (std::filesystem::exists(config_path)) {
                 auto cfg_src = read_file(config_path.c_str());
                 try {
                     auto cfg = dsl::parse_system_config(cfg_src);
                     remotes = cfg.remotes;
+                    repos = std::move(cfg.repos);
                 } catch (const std::exception& e) {
                     std::cerr << "warning: config parse error: " << e.what() << "\n";
                 } catch (...) {
                     std::cerr << "warning: unknown config parse error\n";
                 }
             }
-            auto result = fetch::fetch_recipe(file_arg, remotes);
+            fetch::RecipeResult result;
+            if (!repos.empty()) {
+                result = fetch::fetch_recipe_from_repos(file_arg, repos);
+            } else {
+                result = fetch::fetch_recipe(file_arg, remotes);
+            }
             if (result.ok) {
                 if (result.updated) {
                     std::cout << "fetched " << file_arg << " " << result.version