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 and Antigravity CLI 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.

70,000+Discoverable assets
81Commands · 8 groups
7Pre-tapped registries
5AI 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 pre-tapped registries + a 10,000-skill discovery index

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

Gemini CLI

~/.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 jira
  ▰▰▰▰   jira-integration  [skill]  acme/git  Sync commits and PRs to Jira tickets  ★ curated
  ▰▰▱▱  commit-messages   [skill]  acme/git  Conventional, atomic commit message discipline
  2 matches · ranked by Claude Haiku relevance

$ boost install jira-integration
   copied to ~/.agents/skills/jira-integration
   linked → claude-code · windsurf · cursor
   available to Gemini CLI (reads the store directly)
   lock updated (.skill-lock.json)
  ╭─ installed ────────────────────────────────────────╮
   Installed 1 new skill; quality score 92/100        
   jira-integration → claude-code · windsurf · cursor 
   next: boost info jira-integration                  
  ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

$ boost doctor
  ==> boost doctor
   14 skills installed · 5 taps synced · 0 broken links
   lock file integrity OK · log rotation healthy
  ● healthy

# 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, Windsurf, Cursor and Antigravity CLI.

  • Run as a native MCP server, so the agent can search for itself.
  • 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

Pre-tapped registries + open discovery

Boost ships pre-tapped to seven curated registries covering all three item kinds — skills, rules and workflows — and boost mcp taps them for you on a machine that has none. Beyond that, the curated catalog spans 100+ registries and boost discover indexes 10,000+ skills across GitHub. Tap your own team’s repo anytime.

TapRepositoryItemsFocus
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 from the live repositories · build the GitHub-wide index with boost index, browse it with boost discover

Get Started

One pip install, zero setup

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 boost-skill-cli
boost --version

# taps the 7 starter registries and loads prebuilt vectors
boost quickstart
boost search brainstorming

# semantic search: add the extra first, then quickstart again
pipx inject boost-skill-cli "boost-skill-cli[rag]"

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