Laravel Boost – Free AI-Powered Assistant for Laravel

Laravel Boost: AI-Powered Development Assistant for Laravel Applications

Laravel has released a groundbreaking package called Laravel Boost, designed to supercharge AI-assisted development workflows by providing Laravel-specific context that helps AI agents generate higher-quality code. Currently in public beta, this free and open-source package bridges the gap between generic AI coding assistants and framework-specific development needs.

What is Laravel Boost?

Laravel Boost is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that accelerates AI-assisted development by providing the essential context and structure AI needs to generate accurate, Laravel-specific code. Rather than treating AI agents as simple search engines, Boost transforms them into experienced Laravel developers by equipping them with real-time access to your application's state, version-specific documentation, and framework guidelines.

Key Features

15+ Specialized MCP Tools

Boost provides over 15 specialized tools that allow AI agents to inspect and interact with your Laravel application:

• Application Info: Read PHP and Laravel versions, database engine, installed packages with versions, and Eloquent models
• Database Tools: Execute queries, inspect schema, and view available connections
• Tinker Integration: Execute arbitrary code within your application context
• Browser Logs: Read logs and errors from the browser for frontend debugging
• Error Tracking: Access the last error from application log files
• Route Inspection: List and inspect all available routes
• Configuration Access: Read configuration values using dot notation
• Artisan Commands: List available Artisan commands

Version-Specific Documentation API

Boost includes a powerful Documentation API containing over 17,000 pieces of vectorized Laravel ecosystem documentation. The documentation is specific to your installed package versions, using semantic search with embeddings to provide precise, context-aware results. This ensures AI agents reference the correct APIs for your exact framework version rather than generating outdated or incorrect code.

Laravel-Maintained AI Guidelines

The package ships with composable AI guidelines specifically crafted for Laravel ecosystem packages. These guidelines are version-specific and cover popular packages including:

• Laravel Framework (10.x, 11.x, 12.x)
• Livewire (2.x, 3.x)
• Inertia (1.x, 2.x) with React and Vue variants
• Filament (4.x)
• Flux UI (Free and Pro)
• Pest (4.x)
• Tailwind CSS (3.x, 4.x)
• Laravel Folio, Livewire Volt, and more

Installation and Setup

Installing Laravel Boost is straightforward and works with Laravel 10, 11, and 12 applications running PHP 8.1 or higher.

First, install the package via Composer as a development dependency:

composer require laravel/boost --dev

Next, run the interactive installer:

php artisan boost:install

The installer auto-detects your IDE and AI agents, allowing you to opt into features that make sense for your project. Boost respects existing project conventions and doesn't force opinionated style rules by default.

Supported IDEs and AI Agents

Boost works out of the box with popular development tools:

• Cursor: Enable via command palette → "/open MCP Settings" → toggle laravel-boost
• VS Code: Command palette → "MCP: List Servers" → select laravel-boost → "Start server"
• PhpStorm: Press shift twice → "MCP Settings" → check laravel-boost → Apply
• Claude Code: Typically enabled automatically

Real-World Capabilities

Boost delivers tangible development improvements:

• Generate code using the correct framework API for your exact package versions (Inertia, Livewire, etc.)
• Debug white screens of death by letting AI fetch Laravel errors, read browser logs, and propose fixes
• Request features like rate limiting and receive version-appropriate implementations with tests
• Use Tinker conversationally to create fixtures or inspect models
• Automatically generate controllers, models, and migrations with proper Laravel conventions

Customization and Extension

Custom AI Guidelines

You can augment Boost with custom AI guidelines by adding .blade.php files to your application's .ai/guidelines/* directory. These files are automatically included when running boost:install.

Overriding Default Guidelines

Override Boost's built-in guidelines by creating custom guidelines with matching file paths. For example, create .ai/guidelines/inertia-react/2/forms.blade.php to override Boost's Inertia React v2 form guidance.

Third-Party Package Support

Package maintainers can add Boost support by including a resources/boost/guidelines/core.blade.php file in their packages. When users run php artisan boost:install, Boost automatically loads these guidelines.

Keeping Guidelines Updated

Periodically update your AI guidelines to reflect the latest package versions:

php artisan boost:update

You can automate this by adding it to your Composer scripts:

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

Beta Considerations

As Boost is in public beta, expect some rough edges and behavioral changes. The documentation currently works at the major-version level only, so minor or patch-level differences may require manual verification. Always treat generated code as a draft—run tests, review diffs, and maintain code review standards.

Providing Feedback

Boost includes a built-in feedback tool accessible directly from your editor. Simply tell your AI agent: "Give Boost feedback: [your feedback]" to send suggestions directly to the Laravel team.

Conclusion

Laravel Boost represents a significant leap forward in AI-assisted Laravel development by solving the context gap that plagues generic AI coding assistants. By providing version-specific documentation, real-time application access, and framework guidelines, Boost helps AI agents behave like experienced Laravel developers rather than guessing at APIs or inventing methods.

With over 2,700 GitHub stars and active development, Laravel Boost is rapidly becoming an essential tool for Laravel developers looking to accelerate their workflow while maintaining code quality. The package is free, open-source, and available now under the MIT license.