Create and Publish a Plugin

Create and publish a plugin

Build a workspace tool with Tool Creator, hand its implementation to a coding agent, and publish it through GitHub Actions. The full authoring guide covers repository setup and release configuration.

1. Start in BOSS

Open Toolbox → Create → Install Tool Creator, then Create a new plugin…. Hosted BOSS gives existing and new users the plugins.create and api_key.create permissions needed for these controls and publish-key creation. Sign out and back in if you still have an older permission snapshot. Other deployments must configure these grants themselves.

Have JDK 17, Git, and a signed-in coding CLI ready. For GitHub setup, install gh and run gh auth login.

2. Describe the plugin and let an agent build it

Name your tool, describe what it should do, choose the capabilities the agent may use, select Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or OpenCode, and choose a folder. Start building scaffolds the project and opens the agent in a BOSS terminal.

You can also give a GitHub-connected coding agent this repository task:

Build the tool described in the README. Read any AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md and the
generated .claude/skills/tool-creator/SKILL.md. Work on a feature branch, run
./gradlew buildPluginJar and relevant checks, and open a PR with instructions
for testing in BOSS. Keep credentials out of source and task text.

Review the PR and test its distributable JAR from build/libs/ in ~/.boss/plugins/ (~/.boss_debug/plugins/ for dev mode). Reload the plugin in Toolbox or restart BOSS yourself.

3. Set up GitHub publishing

Tool Creator's Create GitHub repo + release CI option creates a private repo under risa-labs-inc and installs its publish secret. It requires GitHub access to create repositories in that organisation.

For your own account, turn that option off, create a public repository, and update the scaffold's repository URLs. Follow the personal-repository steps. BOSS publishing rights and GitHub repository access are separate.

Create your own publish-scoped key through Tool Creator or Secret Manager's + → Create Plugin Store publish key menu. In your GitHub repository, save it as an Actions repository secret named BOSS_STORE_PLUGIN_PUBLISH_KEY. Keep the generated release workflow, allow its shared workflow in Actions settings, and give the release job contents: write.

4. Release and check the store

Merge the reviewed implementation into main, or use Actions → Release → Run workflow. The pipeline bumps the version, builds/tests, creates the GitHub release, and publishes its JAR to BOSS. Documentation-only pushes skip releasing. If initial setup started CI before installing the secret, dispatch a fresh run after setup completes.

Check Publish to BOSS Plugin Store succeeded, then find and install your plugin in Toolbox → Browse. Use the same BOSS publisher account for later versions; plugin ownership remains enforced. For a release already on GitHub, Toolbox → Create → Publish Plugin → From GitHub is the interactive option.

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Continue: Plugins · Agents and MCP · Authoring details