Laravel Boost for Package Development

The Problem

When using AI agents like Claude Code, Laravel Boost is an essential tool. It's easy to install, offers MCP servers for Laravel and Herd, and provides guidelines for installed Composer packages for AI.

However, while Testbench allows you to run Laravel commands via a bundled Laravel app, Laravel Boost does not work out of the box. The problem occurs because Boost looks for files in the bundled app folder vendor/orchestra/testbench-core/laravel instead of the package folder.

I explored the source code and found a slightly hacky workaround.

In this example, I am using Workbench from Testbench. It provides a partial Laravel app skeleton in your package folder, which integrates with the Testbench core.

Solution

Fixing Paths for Laravel Boost Commands

Laravel Boost uses base_path() in many places. I tried to overwrite the base path globally, but since Testbench lives in the vendor folder, this would break other functionalities. I considered replacing some components, but that would result in numerous overwritten classes, which I wanted to avoid.

Fortunately, it seems that changing the base path only for the Boost commands works. Additionally, we need to adjust the path to CLAUDE.md, as the default is a relative path. We can hook into the command execution via the CommandStarting event and modify the necessary paths. Place this in a ServiceProvider like the WorkbenchServiceProvider:

Event::listen(CommandStarting::class, function ($event) {
    if (str_starts_with($event->command, 'boost:')) {
        // Make sure this actually points to your package root!
        app()->setBasePath(realpath(__DIR__.'/../../../'));
        app()->useAppPath(base_path('src'));

        config()->set('boost.code_environments.claude_code.guidelines_path', base_path('CLAUDE.md'));
    }
});

Fixing MCP Servers Support

When installing the MCP servers, Laravel Boost points to the artisan file. Initially, I thought about changing the .mcp.json config, but it still contains references to artisan. Therefore, we need to create that file and pass the commands through to Testbench. Fortunately, someone has already addressed this and shared the solution on GitHub:

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php

// Set cache driver to array to avoid database connection
putenv('CACHE_STORE=array');
$_ENV['CACHE_STORE'] = 'array';

// Get the path to Testbench
$testbenchPath = __DIR__ . '/vendor/bin/testbench';

// Check if Testbench exists
if (!file_exists($testbenchPath)) {
    fwrite(STDERR, "Error: vendor/bin/testbench not found. Run 'composer install' first.\n");
    exit(1);
}

// Get all command line arguments (skip script name)
$args = array_slice($argv, 1);

// Build the command
$command = escapeshellarg($testbenchPath);
if (!empty($args)) {
    $command .= ' ' . implode(' ', array_map('escapeshellarg', $args));
}

// Execute and pass through exit code
passthru($command, $exitCode);
exit($exitCode);

Wrapping Up

Laravel Boost should now generate guidelines for the correct packages and communicate with the MCP servers properly. The solution feels a bit fragile, so let's hope for official support in the future.