Tools · Setup guide

Laravel Boost

Laravel's official MCP server and guideline generator — it teaches your AI coding agent how your Laravel app is actually built.

Before you start

• An existing Laravel app (Boost supports Laravel 10.x through 13.x guidelines).
• PHP and Composer on your PATH.
• At least one supported agent installed: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot (VS Code), or Junie.
• Run this from your project root. Boost writes files into the project.

Set it up

1. Install the package as a dev dependency:

   composer require laravel/boost --dev

   Verified output ends with:

    INFO Discovering packages.
   
    laravel/boost .. DONE
    laravel/mcp .. DONE
   ...
   Using version ^2.4 for laravel/boost

2. Run the installer. It detects which agents you have and asks what to install:

   php artisan boost:install

   To skip the prompts (useful in CI or a scripted setup), pass the feature flags explicitly:

   php artisan boost:install --guidelines --skills --mcp --no-interaction

   Verified output:

    ✦ Laravel Boost :: Install :: We Must Ship ✦
   
   Adding 7 guidelines to your selected agents
   
    boost deployments foundation laravel/core
    php phpunit/core pint/core
   
    Claude Code.. ✓
    Codex .. ✓
    OpenCode .. ✓
    Pi .. ✓
   
   Syncing 1 skills for skills-capable agents
   
    laravel-best-practices
   
   Installing MCP servers to your selected Agents
   
    Claude Code.. ✓
    Codex .. ✓
    OpenCode .. ✓
   
    Enjoy the boost 🚀

3. Turn the MCP server on in your editor. Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI are usually enabled automatically. If yours isn't:

   Claude Code

   claude mcp add -s local -t stdio laravel-boost php artisan boost:mcp

   Codex

   codex mcp add laravel-boost -- php "artisan" "boost:mcp"

   Gemini CLI

   gemini mcp add -s project -t stdio laravel-boost php artisan boost:mcp

   Cursor — open the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P), press enter on "/open MCP Settings", toggle laravel-boost on.

   GitHub Copilot (VS Code) — command palette, "MCP: List Servers", select laravel-boost, choose "Start server".

   Junie — press shift twice, search "MCP Settings", check laravel-boost, click Apply.

4. Add the generated files to .gitignore if you don't want them tracked. They are regenerated by boost:install and boost:update:

   .mcp.json
   boost.json
   CLAUDE.md
   AGENTS.md

5. Refresh guidelines after upgrading packages:

   php artisan boost:update

   Use php artisan boost:update --discover to also scan for newly installed packages and offer their guidelines. To automate it, add to composer.json:

   {
     "scripts": {
       "post-update-cmd": [
         "@php artisan boost:update --ansi"
       ]
     }
   }

What success looks like

boost:install creates these in your project root (verified on a fresh Laravel 13.23.0 app):

.mcp.json      .claude/      CLAUDE.md    boost.json
.agents/       .codex/       AGENTS.md    opencode.json
.pi/

.mcp.json contains exactly:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": ["artisan", "boost:mcp"]
        }
    }
}

The MCP server exposes 9 tools — confirmed live over stdio:

application-info, browser-logs, database-connections, database-query, database-schema, get-absolute-url, last-error, read-log-entries, search-docs

Ask your agent "what Laravel version is this app on?" and it should call application-info and get back real data. Verified response from the sandbox app:

{"php_version":"8.4","laravel_version":"13.23.0","database_engine":"sqlite",
 "packages":[{"roster_name":"LARAVEL","version":"13.23.0","package_name":"laravel/framework"},
 {"roster_name":"BOOST","version":"2.4.13","package_name":"laravel/boost"}, ...]}

search-docs is the one that matters most day to day — it queries Laravel's hosted documentation API (17,000+ indexed pieces, semantic search) scoped to the packages you actually have installed.

Things worth knowing

• You get the skills your app earns. The docs list a dozen skills (livewire-development, pest-testing, fluxui-development, and so on), but they're installed based on what's in your composer.json. A bare Laravel app gets exactly one: laravel-best-practices. Install Livewire, re-run boost:update --discover, and the Livewire skill appears.
• Guidelines vs. skills. Guidelines load upfront every session (broad Laravel conventions). Skills load on demand when the agent is working in that domain (detailed patterns). Skills keep your context window cleaner.
• Two undocumented commands exist: php artisan boost:list-skills shows what's active, and php artisan boost:add-skill pulls skills from a remote GitHub repo. Neither is in the written docs.
• Add your own house rules by dropping .md or .blade.php files into .ai/guidelines/. They get merged in on the next boost:install. Custom skills go in .ai/skills/{name}/SKILL.md. Matching a built-in path overrides Boost's version — handy for making the agent follow Creative2 conventions instead of generic Laravel ones.

Verified vs not

Verified (Laravel 13.23.0, PHP 8.4.23, Composer 2.10.1, laravel/boost v2.4.13, SQLite): package install, boost:install with flags, all generated files and their contents, the MCP server handshake, the full 9-tool list, and a real application-info tool call.

Not simulated: the interactive boost:install prompt flow (flags were used instead); per-editor MCP toggles in Cursor, VS Code, and Junie; boost:update against upgraded packages.

Go deeper

• laravel.com ↗ the authoritative reference; every command and config path in this article came from here.
• github.com ↗ source, issues, and ClaudeCode.php as the reference implementation if you need to add support for an unsupported editor.