simple cider

So I was going to make some cider in a simple way, basically just 4 gallons of store-bought cider with no preservatives in a carboy with some brown sugar and ale yeast for 3 weeks. but i also wanted to add some apple pie spice to it. when should I add the spice? can i just add it to the carboy with the cider and yeast? or should i wait until bottling?

I think people usually do it in a secondary fermentation or at least after the cider has cleared up. The cider will take at least 4 weeks to stop being cloudy generally. You could probably just toss the spices in your primary after it's no longer cloudy and then taste it every few days until it's at the right spice level for you. If you put it in at the beginning of fermentation, you risk it being overwhelming.

what about adding the spice in the bottling bucket, then racking on top of it during bottling (after 4 weeks)?