install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install boot-clj

provider-native install command

overview

Package summary

Build tooling for Clojure

Project links

Commands and aliases

boot

history

Project history and usage

Boot is a Clojure build framework and command-line script runner built around the idea that builds are programs. Its historical niche was giving Clojure projects programmable build pipelines, immutable filesets, classloader isolation, and ad-hoc scripting before the newer Clojure CLI tooling became common.

Project history

Boot's own README describes it as both a Clojure build framework and an ad-hoc Clojure script evaluator. Instead of treating a build as a static project map, Boot evaluates Clojure scripts in a runtime environment that can add dependencies, compose tasks, and pass managed filesets between task middleware.

The public release line visible in the official GitHub releases starts with 2.0.0 prereleases in late 2014, moves through 2.0 release candidates in early 2015, and continues through the 2.7 and 2.8 series. The 2.8.3 release in April 2019 is the last stable release shown in the sampled GitHub release metadata.

Adoption history

Boot was adopted inside the Clojure community as an alternative to Leiningen-style project configuration, especially for workflows needing composable pipelines, ClojureScript builds, REPL-driven automation, and single-file scripts. The official README lists package-manager installation paths through Homebrew, Nix, AUR, Docker, Chocolatey, and Scoop, showing that it crossed from library ecosystem tooling into OS package collections.

How it is used

Users run `boot` with tasks such as `repl`, `pom`, `jar`, and `install`, or write a `build.boot` script that composes tasks in Clojure. The wrapper script or executable is a thin launcher that downloads and runs Boot's JARs from Maven, so `boot -u` historically handled updating the runtime bits.

Why package nerds care

Boot is interesting to package nerds because it is both a package and a package bootstrapper: the installed command is a shim, while the real tool comes from Maven coordinates. It also illustrates a Clojure-era preference for programmable build logic, fileset immutability, and REPL-friendly build automation rather than declarative-only project files.

Timeline

2014: Boot 2.0.0 prereleases appear on GitHub.
2015: Boot 2.0.0 release-candidate series continues.
2016: Boot 2.6.0 and 2.7.x releases published.
2018: Boot 2.8.0 and 2.8.x releases published.
2019: Boot 2.8.3 published on GitHub.

Related projects

Related projects include Clojure itself, Maven repositories used for dependency resolution, Leiningen credentials compatibility noted in the curation data, boot-bin wrapper releases, and ClojureScript build workflows documented by the Boot project.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: yellow

generalized runtime or code generation signal.

Risk classifier

yellow risk · medium confidence · runtime

Why

generalized runtime or code generation signal

Signals

text:build tool

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

local files

Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.

Configuration files

Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.

Unix: $BOOT_HOME/boot.properties./boot.properties$BOOT_HOME/profile.boot./profile.boot./build.boot./.bootignore

Credential files

Credential-bearing paths to review before unattended agent runs.

Unix: $BOOT_HOME/credentials.gpg~/.lein/credentials.clj.gpg

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`boot`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version2.8.3

manager updated2026-06-22

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:boot-clj
Version	2.8.3
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://boot-clj.github.io/
Repository	https://github.com/boot-clj/boot
Last updated	2026-06-22T14:02:54-07:00
Pulse	updated
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/boot-clj.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
curated configuration and credential file locations
curated package history
pkgdb category and tag curation

Install boot-clj with Homebrew