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 + 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

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 searches GitHub live for skill repositories you have not tapped. 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 · boost discover <query> searches GitHub live; boost index builds the offline index that bare discover and --local browse

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 builds the index
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

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