Overview

This document provides a high-level introduction to the revolution/laravel-boost-copilot-cli package, explaining its architecture, core components, and how it bridges Laravel Boost with GitHub Copilot CLI through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). For installation instructions, see Getting Started. For detailed component documentation, see Core Architecture.

Purpose and Scope

The laravel-boost-copilot-cli package is a Laravel package that enables GitHub Copilot CLI to interact with Laravel projects through Laravel Boost's MCP server capabilities. It acts as an agent adapter that detects the development environment, generates appropriate configuration files, and provides AI guidelines tailored to the specific context (standard Laravel application vs package development environment).

Sources: README.md1-14 composer.json1-14

Package Identity

Property	Value
Package Name	revolution/laravel-boost-copilot-cli
Type	Laravel package (library)
Namespace	Revolution\Laravel\Boost\
License	MIT
PHP Requirement	>= 8.2
Laravel Requirement	>= 12.30 or >= 13.0
Core Dependency	laravel/boost >= 2.0

Sources: composer.json1-14

System Architecture

Component Relationship Diagram

Sources: composer.json45-50 .github/copilot-instructions.md26-32 README.md43-53

Core Components

The package consists of three primary components:

Component	Class/File	Responsibility
Service Provider	CopilotCliServiceProvider	Registers the agent with Laravel and Laravel Boost during application bootstrap
Agent Implementation	CopilotCli	Detects environment, generates MCP configuration, provides installation logic
AI Guidelines Template	resources/boost/guidelines/core.blade.php	Blade template that renders environment-aware AI instructions

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md26-35 composer.json45-50

Installation and Configuration Flow

Sources: README.md35-62 composer.json45-50

Environment Detection and Adaptation

The package supports multiple development environments and automatically adapts its configuration:

Environment	Detection Method	MCP Command Configuration
Standard Laravel	Default case	["php", "artisan", "boost:mcp"]
Laravel Sail	Presence of vendor/bin/sail	["./vendor/bin/sail", "artisan", "boost:mcp"]
WSL	Windows path detection	PHP path converted to WSL format
Orchestra Testbench	TESTBENCH_CORE constant defined	["./vendor/bin/testbench", "boost:mcp"]

The environment detection influences:

• The command and args fields in .github/mcp-config.json
• The content of AI guidelines (Testbench environments receive additional warnings about limited tool availability)
• Available MCP tools (some tools require full application context)

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md37-90 docs/testbench.md1-87 .ai/guidelines/copilot-cli.blade.php11-21

Generated Configuration Files

MCP Configuration Structure

The primary artifact is .github/mcp-config.json, which follows this structure:

The type field is always "local", indicating a local MCP server process. The tools: ["*"] configuration exposes all available Laravel Boost MCP tools to Copilot CLI.

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md37-90 .github/mcp-config.json1-14

AI Guidelines Rendering

The AI guidelines file at .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md is generated from resources/boost/guidelines/core.blade.php. The template uses Blade conditionals to render environment-specific content:

• When TESTBENCH_CORE is defined: Includes warnings about limited tool availability in package development environments
• Standard environments: Provides standard Laravel Boost usage instructions

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md92-97 .ai/guidelines/copilot-cli.blade.php11-21

Integration with GitHub Copilot CLI

Usage Pattern

Users interact with the package through GitHub Copilot CLI by specifying the generated MCP configuration:

The @ prefix tells Copilot CLI to read the file path and load the configuration. The configuration can be combined with other Copilot CLI options:

Sources: README.md55-71

Optional Local Configuration

For sensitive credentials or local-only settings, users can create .github/mcp-config.local.json, which is loaded alongside the main configuration file. This file should be added to .gitignore to prevent credential exposure.

Sources: README.md102-124

System Requirements and Dependencies

Runtime Requirements

Requirement	Minimum Version	Purpose
PHP	8.2	Base language runtime
Laravel	12.30+ or 13.0+	Framework via illuminate/support
Laravel Boost	2.0+	MCP server functionality
GitHub Copilot CLI	1.0+	AI interaction interface

Sources: README.md9-14 composer.json11-14

Development Dependencies

The package uses these tools for development and testing:

Tool	Version	Purpose
Pest PHP	4.1+	Testing framework
Orchestra Testbench	10.6+	Package testing environment
Laravel Pint	1.25+	Code formatting (PSR-12)

Sources: composer.json16-21 .github/copilot-instructions.md13

Supported Platforms

Platform	Support Level	Notes
macOS	Full support	Recommended platform
Linux	Full support	All features available
WSL	Full support	Recommended for Windows users
Native Windows	Limited support	Functional but WSL recommended
Laravel Sail	Full support	Docker-based environment, requires vendor/bin/sail up -d

Sources: README.md20-30

Package Registration

The package auto-registers with Laravel through the extra.laravel.providers configuration in composer.json:

This causes CopilotCliServiceProvider to be loaded automatically when the package is installed, which in turn registers the CopilotCli agent with the Laravel Boost framework.

Sources: composer.json45-50