Laravel Boost

Laravel Boost is an official Composer package from Laravel that speeds up AI-assisted development inside Laravel applications. It is maintained in the github.com/laravel/boost repository under the MIT license (exactly 3,632 stars and 379 forks per the GitHub API on 2026-09-29, actively maintained, last pushed the same day, latest release v2.10.0 from 2026-09-23) and forms a core part of the official Laravel ecosystem built around Taylor Otwell's framework. In its own documentation, Laravel explicitly positions the package as the foundation for AI agents to write "high-quality, Laravel-specific code" grounded in the actually installed package versions rather than outdated training data.

What is Laravel Boost?

Rather than a single tool, Laravel Boost bundles three building blocks that, according to the official documentation, together give a coding agent context about a specific Laravel application. A built-in MCP server exposes tools such as Application Info, Database Query, Database Schema, Database Connections, Browser Logs, Last Error, Read Log Entries, Get Absolute URL, and Search Docs, letting an agent inspect the application's real structure, database, and error state instead of guessing. AI Guidelines are pre-loaded, composable instruction files covering conventions for core packages such as the Laravel framework itself, Livewire, Inertia (React, Vue, Svelte), Pest, Pint, Tailwind CSS, Flux UI, Folio, Herd, Sail, Pennant, and Wayfinder. Agent Skills, finally, are fine-grained knowledge modules in the open Agent Skills format that load on demand; Boost installs them automatically based on the packages it finds in composer.json, for example the livewire-development skill whenever Livewire is a dependency.

Installation

Setup takes two commands: composer require laravel/boost --dev adds the package as a dev dependency, and php artisan boost:install then generates the matching configuration files for the agents selected during the install dialog, such as .mcp.json, CLAUDE.md, or AGENTS.md. The php artisan boost:update command keeps guidelines and skills in sync with installed package versions; according to the provider, this can be automated through the post-update-cmd script in composer.json.

Documentation API

Through its Search Docs tool, the MCP server queries a hosted Laravel documentation API containing, according to the provider, over 17,000 pieces of Laravel-specific knowledge, searched with semantic embeddings for context-aware results covering the Laravel framework, Filament, Flux UI, Inertia, Livewire, Nova, Pest, and Tailwind CSS across their respective supported versions.

Supported editors and agents

According to the official documentation, Boost supports Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot in VS Code, and Junie out of the box. An extensible Agent class with the SupportsGuidelines, SupportsMcp, and SupportsSkills contracts lets anyone add support for additional editors and agents.

Security and privacy

Because tools such as Database Query, Browser Logs, and Read Log Entries grant direct access to real application data, database contents, and error logs, Boost should run only in local development environments, never against a production database. Retrieved data inevitably flows into requests sent to the connected AI model, which, depending on the client, may be a separate external provider — something worth keeping in mind when working with sensitive test data.

Who should use Laravel Boost?

The package is especially useful for anyone actively building Laravel applications with Claude Code, Cursor, or another supported agent who expects current, version-accurate conventions instead of generic or outdated AI suggestions. Teams on a Livewire, Inertia, Filament, Flux UI, or Pest stack in particular benefit from the bundled guidelines and skills instead of maintaining their own rules by hand.

FAQ

Does Laravel Boost cost anything? No, the package is open source under the MIT license and free to use; only the usual costs of the AI agents and models you connect apply. Does Boost work without Claude Code? Yes, according to the documentation it supports several editors and can be extended to others through a custom Agent class.

PHP 8.2 or newer, an existing Laravel application (Laravel 10.x, 11.x, 12.x, or 13.x) with Composer, and an MCP-capable AI agent such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex.

Run composer require laravel/boost --dev in the project directory, then run php artisan boost:install and select the desired agents and features (MCP server, guidelines, skills) in the interactive prompt. Claude Code support is usually detected automatically; if not, run claude mcp add -s local -t stdio laravel-boost php artisan boost:mcp.

composer require laravel/boost --dev && php artisan boost:install

No separate sign-in required. The MCP server runs as a local stdio process within the Laravel application itself; the Search Docs tool calls a hosted Laravel documentation API without needing an API key.

Full read access and, per the tool's description, also write access to the configured database connection (Database Query), plus read access to application info, the database schema, browser logs, and log files of the application Boost runs in.

Runs as a process inside the Laravel application itself and processes application metadata, database contents, log entries, and browser errors directly from the local system. This data is passed on to the connected AI model via the MCP client; the Search Docs tool additionally sends search queries to the hosted Laravel documentation API.

According to its description, the Database Query tool can execute queries against the database; Boost should therefore run only in local development environments against a development database, never against production data. Browser logs, error logs, and database contents can contain personal or sensitive information, which is then passed on to the connected AI model.