Rules & Profiles

A profile is a named set of terminal overrides: theme, font, shader, shell, environment. A rule picks a profile for a tab based on where it is (host, folder, container, kube context, process), or runs an action when output matches a regex. Both live in JSON files under ~/.boo/, and Boo reloads them when you save.

Profiles

Profiles are stored in ~/.boo/profiles.json. Edit them in Settings → Profiles (Add Profile, Open profiles.json) or by hand:

{
  "profiles": [
    {
      "name": "Production",
      "theme": "Gruvbox Dark",
      "shader": "",
      "env": { "AWS_PROFILE": "prod" }
    },
    {
      "name": "Demo",
      "fontFamily": "JetBrains Mono",
      "fontSize": 18,
      "shader": "crt"
    }
  ]
}

Fields you leave out use the global setting. shell, env and cwd affect only new tabs. Theme, font and shader also change an open tab when its profile changes.

A profile with an empty or duplicate name, or an out-of-range fontSize, is skipped. If the file doesn't parse, Boo keeps the last good profiles.

Which profile a tab uses

1. The profile you picked for that tab by hand
2. Otherwise, the profile of the first rule whose when matches
3. Otherwise, the default from Settings → Profiles → New tabs use

Pick a profile by hand from:

• the tab's right-click menu → Profile (Auto returns the tab to rules and the default; Edit Profiles… opens the settings page)
• the profile chip in the pane controls, shown while a tab runs a profile other than the default
• the command palette with the : prefix, which lists themes and profiles

A profile picked by hand is not saved with the session.

Shaders

Shaders post-process the whole terminal image through Ghostty's custom-shader support.

• Global — Settings → Appearance → Terminal Shader applies to every terminal
• Per profile — a profile's shader replaces the global one; "" turns it off

Boo bundles three presets: crt, bloom and scanlines. To use your own Shadertoy-style GLSL file (a mainImage function that samples iChannel0), pick it with Choose File… or put its path in a profile. A missing file is ignored.

Boo doesn't watch shader files. After editing one, choose View → Reload Shaders and Ghostty Config.

Rules

Rules are stored in ~/.boo/rules.json, either as {"rules": [...]} or as a bare array:

{
  "rules": [
    {
      "id": "prod-ssh",
      "when": { "host": "*.prod.example.com" },
      "then": { "profile": "Production" }
    },
    {
      "id": "tests-failed",
      "when": { "output": "(\\d+) tests? failed" },
      "then": [{ "notify": { "title": "Tests failed", "body": "$1 failing" } }, { "markTab": {} }],
      "enabled": false
    }
  ]
}

A rule with errors is skipped and reported on the settings page; the other rules still load. If the file doesn't parse, Boo keeps the last good rules.

Conditions

All keys except output take glob patterns: * and ?, case-insensitive. In cwd, * stops at / and ** crosses it, a leading ~ is your home folder, and a pattern for a folder also matches everything below it. So "cwd": "~/work/client" matches ~/work/client/api too.

Profile rules

"then": {"profile": "Name"} gives a matching tab that profile. The profile follows the tab: ssh to a matching host and the tab switches to it; exit and it switches back. A profile rule can't use output.

Action rules

then can also be one action or a list of actions. Each action is an object with exactly one key:

Text in actions can use $0 (the whole match) to $9 (capture groups); $$ is a literal $.

• An output rule fires on a matching line, then waits cooldown seconds. sendText fires at most once per command.
• A rule without output fires when a tab enters the matching context (for example, cd into a folder), and again only after the tab leaves and comes back.

Safety

• sendText asks first. The first time a sendText rule fires, Boo shows a toast with Allow. The approval is remembered until you edit that rule or choose Settings → Rules → Reset Approvals.
• sendText never types into password prompts. It skips sudo, su, doas, ssh, gpg, passwd and pinentry, and any prompt with hidden input.
• Loop guard. A rule that fires more than 10 times in 10 seconds is suspended. A toast offers Resume, and suspended rules are listed in Settings → Rules with a Resume button. Saving the file clears all suspensions.

Settings → Rules

• An editor for rules.json with Save (Cmd+S), Revert and Open in Editor, and the number of rules loaded. Problems in the file are listed at the top of the page
• A Regex Tester: enter a pattern and some sample lines to see which lines match and what $0…$9 capture
• Confirmations: Reset Approvals forgets every approved sendText

Rules and profiles are part of Sync.