The registry entry format — v1

The promptboot.ai registry is a reviewed index of software installable through an AI agent — via a natural-language boot prompt, a vendor's boot.md, or both. This document defines the registry entry format. Guidance for authoring an installer lives in the boot.md standard: promptboot.ai/standard.

1. The entry format

A registry entry is a single JSON document conforming to the schema at https://promptboot.ai/schema/v1.json (source). Entries live in this repository under boots/<slug>.json, where the filename equals the slug field.

Field	Req	Meaning
`$schema`	✓	Always `https://promptboot.ai/schema/v1.json`
`slug`	✓	URL-safe id, 3–64 chars, `kebab-case`. Equals the filename.
`name`	✓	Human-readable name, ≤80 chars
`description`	✓	One plain-text sentence, ≤200 chars
`category`	✓	One id from `categories.json`
`tags`		Up to 8 kebab-case tags
`boot.prompt`	✓	The prompt itself, 10–4000 chars
`boot.targetDir`		`new-empty-folder` \| `current-project` \| `anywhere`
`boot.variants[]`		Per-agent prompt overrides (`agent`, `prompt`)
`postInstall[]`		Up to 10 short steps (≤200 chars each) the agent guides the user through after installation — account sign-in, 2FA, settings sync, permissions. The agent guides; the user acts. Rendered as a checklist and appended to the copied prompt.
`includes[]`		2–12 slugs of reviewed boots, in install order. Presence makes the entry a bundle (see §2). Bundles must use category `bundles` and may not include other bundles.
`artifacts[]`	*	Every URL the prompt downloads: `url` (https only), `sha256`, `kind`. Required for verified entries.
`agents[]`	✓	`claude-code`, `cursor`, `codex-cli`, `gemini-cli`, `copilot`, `generic`
`requirements`		`os[]` and free-form `tools[]` prerequisites
`security`	✓	Honest behavior declaration — see below
`author`	✓	`name`, optional `github`, `url`
`source`		`website`, `repo`, `docs` links (https only)
`bootMd`		The vendor's canonical boot.md: `url` (https only), optional `sha256` + `reviewedAt` — see below
`license`		SPDX id of the installed software, or `proprietary`
`dateAdded`	✓	ISO date the entry was added
`updated`		ISO date of last material change

The `security` block (required)

Every entry must declare what its boot actually does:

executesCode — does the boot run downloaded code?
networkAccess — the list of domains contacted ([] if none)
writesOutsideTargetDir — does it write outside its target directory?
notes — optional free-text clarification, ≤500 chars

The registry renders this as the "What this does" panel next to every prompt. A prompt whose behavior contradicts its declaration will be removed.

Pointing at a vendor boot.md

The optional bootMd block links an entry to the vendor's canonical boot.md:

url — the file's canonical https location. Its path should end in /boot.md (CI warns otherwise).
sha256 — checksum of the exact revision a maintainer reviewed. Optional, but verified entries with a bootMd should pin one.
reviewedAt — the ISO date of that review. Required whenever sha256 is present (CI-enforced): a reviewed hash needs its review date.

sha256 + reviewedAt together mean "a maintainer read that exact revision" — never "verified safe." Clients that fetch the vendor file and find a hash mismatch must stop and tell the user the file changed since review.

2. Bundles

A bundle is an entry with an includes array: an ordered list of reviewed boots it composes (e.g. New Developer Mac). Rules:

Bundles use category bundles, may not include other bundles, and their requirements.os must be supported by every included boot (CI-enforced).
A bundle's security block must cover the union of its parts — CI fails a bundle that under-declares executesCode or writesOutsideTargetDir, and warns on missing networkAccess domains.
The bundle's own boot.prompt is only the orchestrator preamble (OS check, one upfront summary and approval, install order, failure policy, final checklist). The site composes the full copyable prompt at build time by inlining each included boot's reviewed prompt and post-install steps — so nothing is duplicated in the registry and updating an app updates every bundle that includes it.
Bundles are maintainer-curated: PRs adding or changing entries with includes are only merged when authored by a maintainer. Propose new bundles via an issue.

3. The "Install with your AI" button

Authors can put an install button on their own site that links to their canonical entry page:

<a href="https://promptboot.ai/boots/YOUR-SLUG" rel="noopener">
  <img src="https://promptboot.ai/badge.svg" alt="Install with your AI — Prompt Boot" height="32">
</a>

Every entry's detail page shows this snippet pre-filled under "Get the button."

4. Trust model

Format-checked: every merged entry passed schema validation and automated lints (https-only URLs, no invisible/bidirectional Unicode, red-flag pattern review) plus human PR review.
Verified (badge): a maintainer additionally walked through the boot, confirmed the prompt matches its security declaration, artifact checksums are present and correct, and source is linked. Boots that install exclusively through a package manager (Homebrew, WinGet, apt) may omit sha256 — the package manager verifies its own checksums. Verification is a review, not a security audit.
Everything else is a community entry — not reviewed for safety beyond format checks.

The user-side rule is always the same: read the prompt before you paste it — your agent will do what it says.

Report bad entries via the report issue template. Confirmed-malicious entries are removed immediately and the site redeploys automatically.

5. Versioning

This is v1. The $schema URL is the version marker. Within v1, changes are additive only (new optional fields); anything breaking becomes v2.json with a documented migration. Propose format changes via issues on this repository.

v1 changes so far: added optional postInstall and includes fields; relaxed security.networkAccess from 20 to 40 max items (bundles declare the union of their parts); added the optional bootMd field linking an entry to the vendor's canonical boot.md.