- What is alizharb/agent-skills and what does it do?
- alizharb/agent-skills is a Laravel package that ships a collection of Markdown Agent Skills and guidelines for AI coding assistants. It registers reusable skills through a service provider and hooks into Laravel Boost's discovery paths so tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex can load specialized Laravel, architecture, testing, security, and code-quality guidance. It is a content-distribution package, not a runtime library for your application.
- How do I install alizharb/agent-skills in a Laravel project?
- Install it as a dev dependency with composer require alizharb/agent-skills --dev, then run php artisan boost:install to publish or register the skills for Laravel Boost. The package's AgentSkillsServiceProvider is auto-discovered, so no manual provider wiring is normally needed. Because it is dev-only, it should not add anything to production autoload paths.
- Is alizharb/agent-skills a runtime package or a dev dependency?
- It is intended as a dev dependency. Its payload is Markdown skills, guidelines, JSON manifests, and a service provider that integrates with Laravel Boost discovery, not application runtime code. It does not touch routes, migrations, config, or production autoload paths, which keeps operational risk low.
- Which Laravel and PHP versions does alizharb/agent-skills support?
- The package targets a modern baseline of PHP 8.3+ and Laravel 13, with guidance oriented around Livewire 4, Filament, Pest, Pint, and PHPStan. Teams on Laravel 10, 11, or 12, or on PHP 8.1/8.2, may receive guidance that is outdated or misleading rather than merely unusable. Check the package's composer constraints before adopting it on older stacks.
- Does alizharb/agent-skills work with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Gemini CLI?
- Yes, the package is designed for multiple AI coding assistants, with documentation covering Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini CLI, and generic compatible agents. It uses a skills.sh-compatible root skills directory and Laravel Boost discovery so a heterogeneous toolchain can share the same skill content. Exact behavior depends on how each assistant loads local skill files.
- Do I need Laravel Boost to use alizharb/agent-skills?
- Yes, Laravel Boost is the primary integration path. The package hooks into Boost's discovery locations such as resources/boost/skills and the core guidelines Blade file, and it has little standalone value without Boost. If your team does not use Laravel Boost or AI-assisted development, this package is probably not a fit.
- What skills and guidelines are included in alizharb/agent-skills?
- The package currently ships 62 skills and 44 guidelines covering Laravel, software architecture, debugging, testing, security, code quality, documentation, accessibility, Livewire, Filament, APIs, webhooks, notifications, permissions, observability, and package development. The breadth maps well to modern Laravel stacks using Livewire, Filament, Inertia, Pest, Pint, and PHPStan. Content is prescriptive guidance for agents, so review it against your team conventions.
- Is it safe to let AI agents follow the instructions in alizharb/agent-skills?
- There is a real trust and supply-chain consideration because the package delivers natural-language instructions consumed by agents that may have repository access. It includes safety-oriented guidance such as prompt-injection resistance and dirty-worktree safety, but those are content the package provides, not security controls it enforces. Treat skill content like code: review changes, pin versions, and gate AI-generated output with linting and static analysis.
- How do I update, pin, or roll back alizharb/agent-skills?
- Because it is installed through Composer, you can pin a specific version in composer.json and remove it cleanly with composer remove alizharb/agent-skills. Before running boost:install in a real project, test it on a branch to confirm whether it merges with or overwrites existing local skills and guidelines. Keep your own skills under version control so rollback is straightforward.
- When should I avoid alizharb/agent-skills or choose an alternative?
- Avoid it if you are not using Laravel Boost or AI coding assistants, or if your app runs on Laravel 10 to 12 or PHP 8.1/8.2 where the guidance may not match your stack. Alternatives include maintaining your own Boost guidelines, writing a smaller internal skill set, or using other agent-skill collections tailored to your conventions. The package's value depends on active review and a modern Laravel baseline.