Boros — an agentic AI for automated penetration testing and cybersecurity automation, in your terminal.

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Boros is an agentic AI for the terminal, specialized in automated penetration testing and cybersecurity automation. It preserves the original framework and developer-focused UX while shifting brand identity.

Why Boros?

Open-source, co-evolving: the framework is open-source; this project is powered by Qwen models and OpenAI.

• Agentic workflow, feature-rich: rich built-in tools (Skills, SubAgents, Plan Mode) for a full agentic workflow and a Claude Code-like experience.
• Terminal-first, IDE-friendly: built for developers who live in the command line, with optional integration for VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains IDEs.

Installation

Prerequisites

# Node.js 20+
| Boros     | Qwen models         | 37.5%    |
| Boros     | Qwen models         | 31.3%    |
curl -qL https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

NPM (recommended)

npm install -g @jrcdev/boros-code@latest

Homebrew (macOS, Linux)

brew install boros

Quick Start

# Start Boros (interactive)
boros

# Then, in the session:
/help
/auth

On first use, you'll be prompted to sign in. You can run /auth anytime to switch authentication methods.

Example prompts:

What does this project do?
Explain the codebase structure.
Help me refactor this function.
Generate unit tests for this module.

Authentication

Boros supports two authentication methods:

• Qwen OAuth (recommended & free): sign in with your qwen.ai account in a browser.
• OpenAI-compatible API: use OPENAI_API_KEY (and optionally a custom base URL / model).

Qwen OAuth (recommended)

Start boros, then run:

/auth

Choose Qwen OAuth and complete the browser flow. Your credentials are cached locally so you usually won't need to log in again.

OpenAI-compatible API (API key)

Environment variables (recommended for CI / headless environments):

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://api.openai.com/v1"  # optional
export OPENAI_MODEL="gpt-4o"                        # optional

For details (including .boros/.env loading and security notes), see the authentication guide.

Usage

As an open-source terminal agent, you can use Boros in four primary ways:

1. Interactive mode (terminal UI)
2. Headless mode (scripts, CI)
3. IDE integration (VS Code, Zed)
4. TypeScript SDK

Interactive mode

cd your-project/
boros

Run boros in your project folder to launch the interactive terminal UI. Use @ to reference local files (for example @src/main.ts).

Headless mode

cd your-project/
boros -p "your question"

Use -p to run Boros without the interactive UI—ideal for scripts, automation, and CI/CD. Learn more: Headless mode.

IDE integration

Use Boros inside your editor (VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains IDEs):

• Use in VS Code
• Use in Zed
• Use in JetBrains IDEs

TypeScript SDK

Build on top of Boros with the TypeScript SDK:

• Use the Boros SDK

Commands & Shortcuts

Session Commands

• /help - Display available commands
• /clear - Clear conversation history
• /compress - Compress history to save tokens
• /stats - Show current session information
• /bug - Submit a bug report
• /exit or /quit - Exit Boros

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl+C - Cancel current operation
• Ctrl+D - Exit (on empty line)
• Up/Down - Navigate command history

Learn more about Commands

Tip: In YOLO mode (--yolo), vision switching happens automatically without prompts when images are detected. Learn more about Approval Mode

Configuration

Boros can be configured via settings.json, environment variables, and CLI flags.

• User settings: ~/.boros/settings.json
• Project settings: .boros/settings.json

See settings for available options and precedence.

Benchmark Results

Terminal-Bench Performance

| Agent | Model | Accuracy | | ----- | ------------------- | -------- | | Qwen | qwen3-Coder-480A35 | 37.5% | | Qwen | qwen3-Coder-30BA3B | 31.3% |

Ecosystem

Looking for a graphical interface?

• AionUi A modern GUI for command-line AI tools including Boros
• Gemini CLI Desktop A cross-platform desktop/web/mobile UI for Boros

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, check the troubleshooting guide.

To report a bug from within the CLI, run /bug and include a short title and repro steps.

Acknowledgments

This project is based on Google Gemini CLI and QwenLM qwen-code. We acknowledge and appreciate the excellent work of the Gemini CLI and Qwen team.