Reference
Configuration
Boost works out of the box. Optional settings live in
config.toml — in your repo at
.boost/config.toml or globally under your user config
directory (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/boost/,
Linux: ~/.config/boost/). Override the search path with
BOOST_CONFIG_DIR.
Skip hook rewrite for specific commands
When Cursor, Claude Code, or Gemini CLI runs a shell command, Boost's hook
rewrites supported tools to boost <cmd> so output
is compressed before it reaches the agent. To keep certain commands unwrapped,
add them to [hooks] exclude_commands. Each entry is the
first word of the command (the binary name).
.boost/config.toml
[hooks]
exclude_commands = ["playwright", "vim", "docker"]
With the example above, playwright test stays
playwright test instead of becoming
boost playwright test. The same list applies to
boost rewrite and the Gemini hook path.
Hook rewrite only
exclude_commands prevents automatic wrapping in agent
hooks. It does not disable capture or filtering
when someone runs boost playwright test directly.
Opt out for a single invocation
To bypass Boost entirely for one run — no capture, no filtering, live stdio
passthrough — prefix the command with
DISABLE_BOOST=1:
$ DISABLE_BOOST=1 gh pr list
$ DISABLE_BOOST=1 boost go test ./...
Truthy values: 1, true,
yes, y, or
on (case-insensitive). Agents installed with
boost init receive an awareness rule that mentions this
opt-out.
In compound shell commands handled by the rewrite hook, you can prefix an
individual segment with BOOST_DISABLED=1 so only that
part stays unwrapped — for example
git status && BOOST_DISABLED=1 nx test.
Summary
| Goal | Mechanism |
|---|---|
Agent should not wrap playwright, vim, etc. | [hooks] exclude_commands |
| One-off full bypass of Boost for any command | DISABLE_BOOST=1 |