AI Skill Package Manager · on PyPI

Homebrew for AI skills.

Boost is a command-line package manager that searches, installs, and manages AI skills from GitHub-hosted registries — then wires them into Claude Code, Windsurf, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI and Codex at once. One command replaces the copy-paste-and-pray dance of setting up AI agent skills by hand.

Before you install: boost needs Python 3.12+, git and pipx. macOS ships python3 3.9 and no pipx, so a brand new Mac needs one Homebrew line first — run the prerequisites check.

See how it works → Explore all 81 commands

49,000+Catalogued items

81Commands · 8 groups

7Starter registries

6AI agents supported

The Concept

What is a “skill” — and why manage them?

AI agents get better when you give them reusable knowledge. Boost makes that knowledge installable.

A skill is a SKILL.md file — Markdown with a little YAML frontmatter — that teaches an AI agent a repeatable capability: a workflow, a set of coding rules, or domain knowledge. Agents like Claude Code load them automatically from ~/.claude/skills/.

The problem: finding good skills, installing them into every agent, keeping them updated, and sharing them with your team is all manual copy-paste. Boost is the package manager that automates it — the way Homebrew handles Mac apps or npm handles JavaScript. It also manages rules, workflows, and configs under the same roof.

Homebrew → Mac apps npm → JS packages boost → AI skills

brainstorming/SKILL.md

---
name: brainstorming
description: Structured ideation &
  divergent-thinking facilitation
version: 1.4.0
---

# Brainstorming

When the user wants to explore ideas,
facilitate structured divergent thinking:

1. Diverge — generate widely, defer judgment
2. Cluster — group related concepts
3. Converge — score & select

Under the Hood

From GitHub to every agent

Boost clones registries, builds a searchable cache, installs skills to one canonical store, then symlinks them into each AI agent — all tracked by a lock file.

Source

GitHub registries

7 starter registries via boost quickstart + live GitHub discovery

boost update / index

Local Mirror

`~/.boost/repos/`

Shallow git clones

Search Cache

`~/.boost/cache/`

JSON catalogs from SKILL.md frontmatter

boost install

Canonical Store

`~/.agents/skills/`

Single source of truth for installed skills

Lock File

`.skill-lock.json`

v3 schema — pins version, commit & content hash

symlinks

Agent

Claude Code

~/.claude/skills/

Agent

Windsurf

~/.windsurf/skills/

Agent

Cursor

~/.cursor/skills/

Agent

Antigravity CLI

~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/

Agent

Gemini CLI

~/.agents/skills/ — read directly, no symlink

Agent

Codex

~/.agents/skills/ — read directly, no symlink

The Everyday Loop

Search → install → done

Installed from PyPI, boost runs on Python 3.12+ with zero required dependencies. After that, the core loop is three commands.

zsh — boost

$ boost search tdd
  ▰▰▰▰   test-driven-development  [skill]  obra/superpowers  Use when implementing any feature or bugfix…  ★ curated
  ▰▰▰▱   writing-skills           [skill]  obra/superpowers  Use when creating new skills, editing existing…  ★ curated
  11 matches · ranked by full-content BM25

$ boost install test-driven-development
  ✓ copied to ~/.agents/skills/test-driven-development
  ✓ linked → claude-code · windsurf · cursor · antigravity
  ✓ available to Gemini CLI · Codex (reads the store directly)
  ✓ lock updated (.skill-lock.json)
  ╭─ installed ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
  │ Installed 1 new skill; quality score 90/100                             │
  │ test-driven-development → claude-code · windsurf · cursor · antigravity │
  ╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
  next: boost info test-driven-development

$ boost doctor
  ==> boost doctor
  ✓ 1 skill installed · 7 taps synced · 0 broken links
  ✓ lock file integrity OK · log rotation healthy
  ● healthy

# let your agents search and install mid-task:
$ boost mcp register   # Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI, Codex

# share the whole setup with your team:
$ boost bundle dump > Boostfile   # teammates run: boost bundle install

What It Can Do

81 commands, 8 groups

From basic install/update to AI-powered authoring, governance, and team rollouts. Filter live to find what you need.

No commands match — try install, audit, or clear the filter.

Beyond Install/Uninstall

The capabilities that set it apart

Boost treats skills as first-class, governed, shareable artifacts — not just files you copy.

✦

AI-powered authoring

Claude does the parts that need judgement, only when you ask for them.

Ranks your search results by relevance, and summarizes what a skill actually does.
Drafts new skills from your codebase or your chat history.
Previews how one will behave before you install it.

search --smartdistillinferabsorbevolvesimulateexplain

⛨

Governance & safety

A skill is instructions your agent will run, so it gets what code gets.

Enforce org policy, and detect drift from the source repo.
Block unsafe skills against a safety list, and quarantine the rest.
Verify integrity with content fingerprints and install attestation (TOFU).

policydriftauditverifyquarantineattestfingerprint

◈

Team & collaboration

One person's working setup, made into something a team can adopt.

Roll skills out to cohorts, with A/B testing.
Switch context with profiles, and follow a team activity feed.
Share an exact setup as a Boostfile bundle — or find who already has the expertise.

cohortprofilepulsewhobundlesnapshot

⇄

Multi-agent & integration

Install once, land in Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI and Codex.

Let your agents search and install mid-task: boost mcp register registers boost’s MCP server with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Antigravity CLI and Codex.
Register a boost:// handler for one-click installs.
Serve a catalog over HTTP, or auto-sync on a schedule.

mcpprotocolserveschedule

∿

Reproducible & recoverable

A v3 lock file pins exact state, so a rebuild is a rebuild.

Preview the diff before you sync it.
Snapshot and restore a whole environment, or replay its history.
Pin versions so nothing changes underfoot.

sync --diffsnapshotreplaypinunpinoutdated

❄

Self-healing & secure

The install that fixes itself, and tells you when it cannot.

Auto-repair broken symlinks and stale caches.
Detect skills that are unused, decayed, or in conflict.
Sandbox-safe paths, safety-pattern audits, SHA-verified state.

doctorhealdecayconflictcleanself-update

Where Skills Come From

Starter registries + open discovery

boost quickstart taps seven curated registries covering all three item kinds — skills, rules and workflows — and boost mcp register taps them for you on a machine that has none. Beyond that, the curated catalog spans 662 registries (plus 25 awesome-list indexes) and boost discover searches GitHub live for skill repositories you have not tapped. Tap your own team’s repo anytime.

Tap	Repository	Items	Focus
anthropics/skills	github.com/anthropics/skills	—	Official Anthropic skills — documents, artifacts, MCP builders, agent workflows
obra/superpowers	github.com/obra/superpowers	—	Community powerhouse — TDD, debugging, planning, subagent workflows
trailofbits/skills	github.com/trailofbits/skills	—	Security auditing from Trail of Bits — CodeQL, Semgrep, vulnerability hunting
expo/skills	github.com/expo/skills	—	Official Expo team skills — EAS builds, app-store submission, deployments
K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills	github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills	—	Scientific computing — research libraries, databases, data analysis
PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules	github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules	—	Rules — the canonical .cursorrules/.mdc collection: per-stack conventions, and the anti-patterns to avoid
qdhenry/Claude-Command-Suite	github.com/qdhenry/Claude-Command-Suite	—	Workflows — slash commands and subagents for review, testing, refactoring and release
your-org/skills	any repo with SKILL.md files	∞	Your team’s registry — `boost tap your-org/skills` (private repos work over ssh)

Item counts (skills + rules + workflows) measured by tapping each repository at its default branch on 2026-11-07 · boost discover <query> searches GitHub live; boost index builds the offline index that bare discover and --local browse

Get Started

Install in three steps

Install from PyPI with pipx. boost needs Python 3.12+, git and pipx — macOS ships a 3.9 python3 and no pipx, so check first, then install.

step 1 — check prerequisites

# each line prints ok, or what is missing
python3 -c 'import sys; v=sys.version.split()[0]; print("python ok", v) if sys.version_info >= (3,12) else print("python TOO OLD", v)'
command -v git  >/dev/null && echo "git ok"  || echo "git MISSING"
command -v pipx >/dev/null && echo "pipx ok" || echo "pipx MISSING"

Install only what the check flagged. On macOS one Homebrew line covers all three — on Debian/Ubuntu it is sudo apt install python3.13 git pipx. pipx ensurepath puts ~/.local/bin on your PATH, and the new shell is what makes that take effect. If it answers that the directories are already appended and suggests --force, your PATH is fine — that is success, not an error.

step 2 — install only what is missing, macOS

brew install python@3.13     # only if the check said python TOO OLD
brew install git             # only if it said git MISSING
brew install pipx            # only if it said pipx MISSING
pipx ensurepath
# reopen the shell so PATH picks up ~/.local/bin
exec $SHELL -l

step 3 — install boost from PyPI

# install boost, then verify
pipx install --python 3.13 --fetch-python=always "boost-skill-cli[rag]"
boost --version

# taps the 7 starter registries and builds the index
boost quickstart
boost search brainstorming

# let your agents search and install mid-task
boost mcp register

# installed without the extra? add semantic search later
pipx inject boost-skill-cli "boost-skill-cli[rag]"

# upgrade later — works for pipx, pip, uv or a git checkout
boost self-update

# vectors are republished weekly; this ingests them (safe to cron)
boost update --shards

boost search tdd

Find skills across taps

boost install brainstorming

Install into every agent

boost recommend

Suggestions for your stack

boost browse

Interactive TUI explorer

boost discover

Find untapped skills on GitHub

boost doctor

Health check & repair hints