bora 0.3.5

A structured initialization framework for collaborative human & AI coding projects

Bora

Bora — Brazilian Portuguese slang for let's go

Bora is a CLI that keeps your AI collaborator oriented across sessions, models, and projects.

Whether you're a developer building software with an AI coding agent, or a writer using AI to research and plan a manuscript, bora solves the same two problems:

1. Context decay. Every new AI chat starts from zero. You re-explain the project, often inconsistently, and details get lost.
2. Model drift. Switching between Claude, GPT, Gemini, or a local model means starting the briefing over.

Bora fixes this by maintaining a small, structured set of Markdown files inside your project. Any model — any tool — can read them to get oriented in seconds. The files travel with your project, stay in version control, and are always the authoritative source of what's happening and why.

Bora 0.3.0 ships two isolated profiles:

• dev — for software projects: tickets, architecture decisions, task dashboards, and AI tool skill integration.
• write — for writing projects: chapter scaffolding, research interaction logs, story context, and summary generation.

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Contents

• Installation
• Profiles
• For developers
  • How it works
  • Quick start
  • Commands
  • AI tool skills
  • Conventions
• For writers
  • How it works
  • Quick start
  • Commands
  • Obsidian integration
  • Conventions
• Working across models
• Upgrading from 0.2.x
• Contributing

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Installation

The recommended way to install Python CLIs globally is pipx, which gives bora its own isolated environment and puts it on your PATH without touching your system Python.

Install pipx (if you don't have it)

# macOS
brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# Linux / WSL
python3 -m pip install --user pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath

# Windows (PowerShell)
python -m pip install --user pipx
python -m pipx ensurepath

After running pipx ensurepath, open a new terminal so the updated PATH takes effect.

Install bora

# From PyPI (once published):
pipx install bora

# From GitHub:
pipx install git+https://github.com/tonyknight/Bora.git

Verify the install:

bora --version

Upgrade

pipx upgrade bora

Uninstall

pipx uninstall bora

Alternative: pip --user

If you prefer not to use pipx:

pip install --user bora

If bora isn't found after install, your user binary directory (~/.local/bin on Linux/macOS) may not be on your PATH. Add it:

# ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Development install (from source)

git clone https://github.com/tonyknight/Bora.git
cd Bora
pipx install -e .

Changes to the source take effect immediately — no reinstall needed.

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Profiles

Every bora project has a profile stored in .bora/profile.json. The profile determines which commands are available and which appear in --help.

Profile	Initialise with	Designed for
dev	bora dev init	Software development
write	bora write init	Writing projects

Bora enforces profile isolation: running a dev command in a write project (or vice versa) exits with a clear error. This keeps the two workflows from interfering with each other.

If you run a command in a project that has no profile yet (for example, a project created before 0.3.0), bora prompts you to choose one and writes the file before continuing.

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For developers

How it works (dev)

bora dev init scaffolds the project structure:

AGENTS.md              ← AI agent instructions (entry point for any tool)
docs/ai/
  Project.md           ← what you're building and why (active project file)
  Architecture.md      ← design decisions, component layout, decision log
  Tasks.md             ← auto-generated dashboard (never hand-edit)
  tickets/             ← one Markdown file per ticket
  Projects/            ← archived project files (created on first bora dev project)
.bora/
  profile.json         ← profile lock (dev)
  project.json         ← active project file pointer and version

Each ticket is a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter for machine-readable state (status, priority, depends_on, subtasks) and a free-form body for human-readable context (description, acceptance criteria, notes). Tasks.md is regenerated from the tickets any time you run bora dev status.

When you finish a version and start a new one, bora dev project archives the current Project.md with full metadata and opens a fresh one — preserving the history of what was built, when, and what was shipped.

An AI agent reads AGENTS.md first, which tells it how to use the rest. It can then run bora dev ticket set, bora dev ticket note, and bora dev lint directly — the whole loop works from inside a model's shell.

Quick start (dev)

# Start in your project directory (existing or new)
cd /path/to/my-project

# Scaffold the project and install the bora skill for Claude Code
bora dev init claude

# Fill in what you're building
$EDITOR docs/ai/Project.md

# Create a ticket
bora dev ticket new "Implement login flow" --priority high

# Mark it in-progress (fuzzy ID match — no need to type the full ID)
bora dev ticket set 01 status in-progress

# Add a note as work progresses
bora dev ticket note 01 "Auth service wired up, still need session handling"

# Regenerate the task dashboard
bora dev status

# Brief a fresh model session (pipe to clipboard)
bora dev context | pbcopy

Dev commands

Project initialisation and versioning

Command	What it does
bora dev init [tool ...]	Scaffold AGENTS.md, docs/ai/, tickets directory, .bora/profile.json, and .bora/project.json. Optionally install the bora skill for one or more AI tools: bora dev init claude, bora dev init all. Add --force to overwrite existing files.
bora dev project [version] [description]	Archive the current Project.md to docs/ai/Projects/ and create a new one. Prompts interactively for any missing arguments. See Project versioning for details.

Tickets

Command	What it does
bora dev ticket new "<title>"	Create a new ticket. Options: --type (feature/bug/chore/spike), --priority (high/medium/low), --parent <id> (for child tickets), --no-edit (skip opening $EDITOR).
bora dev ticket list	List all tickets in a table. Filters: --status, --type, --priority, --blocked.
bora dev ticket show <id>	Print a ticket's full contents. Fuzzy ID match: 01 matches 20260628-01-my-ticket.
bora dev ticket set <id> <field> <value>	Update a frontmatter field. Settable fields: title, type, priority, status, notes, parent. Setting status done auto-populates the closed date.
bora dev ticket note <id> "<text>"	Append a dated entry to a ticket's Notes section. Use this to record progress without rewriting the whole file.
bora dev ticket subtask <id> <subtask-id> <status>	Update a frontmatter subtask's status (todo/in-progress/done).

Project state

Command	What it does
bora dev status	Regenerate docs/ai/Tasks.md from the current ticket state.
bora dev context [--budget N]	Print briefing content for a fresh model session — all the files an agent should read, in order. Pass --budget <tokens> to get a token-bounded version.
bora dev lint	Validate frontmatter and cross-references across all tickets. Run this after any model writes to a ticket file.

Architecture decisions

Command	What it does
bora dev decision new "<title>"	Append a dated, templated decision entry to Architecture.md and open it in $EDITOR.

AI tool skills

Command	What it does
bora dev skill install <tool>	Install the bora skill for an AI tool. Tools: claude, opencode, all. Default: user-level install (~/.claude/). Add --project to install inside the repo instead.
bora dev skill uninstall <tool>	Remove the bora skill.
bora dev skill list	Show where the bora skill is installed for each known tool.

AI tool skills

Claude Code, OpenCode, and other agentic tools support skills — directories containing a SKILL.md that the agent loads when its description matches the current task. Bora ships a skill that tells the agent how to use the CLI and maintain the docs/ai/ files correctly.

Install as part of bora dev init:

bora dev init claude         # scaffold + skill for Claude Code
bora dev init claude opencode  # scaffold + both tools
bora dev init all            # scaffold + all known tools

Or install the skill on its own (after bora dev init):

# User-level — available in every project
bora dev skill install claude
bora dev skill install all

# Project-level — ships inside this repo
bora dev skill install claude --project

Show what's installed where:

bora dev skill list

Remove:

bora dev skill uninstall claude          # user-level
bora dev skill uninstall claude --project  # this repo only

The uninstall command only removes a SKILL.md whose frontmatter identifies it as bora's — it won't delete a skill it didn't create. Pass --force to override.

Tool	User-level path	Project-level path
claude	~/.claude/skills/bora/SKILL.md	./.claude/skills/bora/SKILL.md
opencode	~/.config/opencode/skills/bora/SKILL.md	./.opencode/skills/bora/SKILL.md

Project versioning

When a version ships and you're ready to start the next one, run:

bora dev project v0.4.0 "Describe what this version is for"

Or omit the arguments and bora prompts you:

bora dev project
# Project version: v0.4.0
# Project description (280 chars max): Describe what this version is for

What happens:

1. Archive — the current Project.md is moved to docs/ai/Projects/ with a (YYYY-MM-DD) date prefix added to the filename (if it doesn't already have one). The file gets archival frontmatter injected:

   • status: archived
   • archived_date and archived_at_version
   • completed_tickets — list of all tickets closed during this version
   • git_log — commits since the project's start_date (or last 50 if no start date)

2. Create — a new (YYYY-MM-DD) Project.md is created at docs/ai/ with frontmatter pre-populated:

   • version, description, status: open
   • start_date and last_reviewed set to today

3. Update pointer — .bora/project.json is updated so all tools (context briefing, task dashboard) automatically pick up the new file.

The (YYYY-MM-DD) date prefix format is used consistently across bora for all date-stamped files — project archives, Summary archives, and any other auto-named files.

Dev conventions

• Ticket IDs are generated, not chosen. The format is YYYYMMDD-NN-slug. Never rename ticket files — the ID is the source of truth for depends_on and parent references.
• Tasks.md is auto-generated. Never hand-edit it. Update tickets and run bora dev status.
• Subtasks live in two places by design. Major subtasks appear in frontmatter (subtasks: list) — they're queryable and visible in Tasks.md. Small subtasks are Markdown checkboxes in the ticket body — they're counted but not individually tracked.
• Decisions are append-only. Add new entries to Architecture.md; don't rewrite old ones. History matters.
• AGENTS.md is the entry point. AI tools that support AGENTS.md (Claude Code, Cursor, others) load it automatically. It tells the agent what the project is, how to work, and what commands to use.

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For writers

How it works (write)

bora write init scaffolds a writing project:

AGENTS.md              ← AI agent instructions (role, boundaries, workflow rules)
doc/ai/
  Project.md           ← story overview: premise, plot, characters, worldbuilding
Summary.md             ← latest AI-generated context briefing (ephemeral)
Summary/               ← archive of previous summaries
.bora/
  profile.json         ← profile lock (write)

As you create chapters, bora adds:

Chapters/
  Chapter 001 - The Arrival/
    001 - The Arrival.md       ← manuscript (author-only, agents never write here)
    001 - ChapterProject.md    ← planning: beats, arcs, pacing, agent notes
    001 - Research.md          ← research log: AI interactions, sources, verification

The core workflow is:

1. Write your chapter notes and research questions in ChapterProject.md.
2. Ask your AI to research topics. The agent logs interactions in Research.md.
3. Run bora write status to compile everything into a structured briefing.
4. Paste the briefing into a new chat with your AI. Ask it to generate an updated Summary.md.
5. Save the response as Summary.md. Next time you run bora write status, it's archived and a fresh one is generated.

The AI never touches your manuscript. The creative work stays yours.

Quick start (write)

# Create and enter your project directory
mkdir my-novel && cd my-novel

# Scaffold the write project
bora write init

# Set up your story context
$EDITOR AGENTS.md              # tell your AI its role and boundaries for this story
$EDITOR doc/ai/Project.md      # add your premise, characters, plot structure

# Create your first chapter
bora write chapter "The Arrival"

# Fill in the chapter plan
$EDITOR "Chapters/Chapter 001 - The Arrival/001 - The Arrival ChapterProject.md"

# Add a second chapter
bora write chapter "The Conflict"

# Compile a briefing for your AI model
bora write status

# Paste the output into Claude / ChatGPT / your model of choice
# Ask: "Based on this project context, generate an updated Summary.md"
# Save the response as Summary.md

Write commands

Project initialisation

Command	What it does
bora write init	Scaffold AGENTS.md, doc/ai/Project.md, Summary.md, Summary/, and .bora/profile.json. Does not create chapter directories (use bora write chapter for that). Add --force to overwrite existing files.

Chapters

Command	What it does
bora write chapter "<name>"	Create the next chapter directory under Chapters/. The ID is 3-digit zero-padded and auto-increments by scanning existing chapter directories (001, 002, ...). Creates three files: an empty manuscript, a ChapterProject.md planning template, and a Research.md log.

Project status

Command	What it does
bora write status	Read Project.md, all ChapterProject.md files, and all Research.md files. Compute approximate word counts, chapter status counts, and research topic frequency. Archive the existing Summary.md to Summary/YYYY-MM-DD - Summary.md (collision-safe). Print a structured briefing to stdout.

Skills

Command	What it does
bora write skill install obsidian	Install a vault-aware agent prompt to .obsidian/plugins/bora-writer/ (SKILL.md, manifest.json, README.md). Add --force to overwrite.
bora write skill uninstall obsidian	Remove the .obsidian/plugins/bora-writer/ directory. Add --force if SKILL.md is missing.

Obsidian integration

If you use Obsidian as your writing environment, bora can install a vault-aware prompt that orients your AI to the project's structure:

bora write skill install obsidian

This creates .obsidian/plugins/bora-writer/ with:

• SKILL.md — a prompt template describing the vault structure, the chapter layout, the Research.md format, and the rule that agents never write to manuscript files. Paste its contents into your AI model's system prompt or context window.
• manifest.json — Obsidian community plugin metadata.
• README.md — setup instructions.

To remove it:

bora write skill uninstall obsidian

Write conventions

• Agents never write to manuscript files. The 001 - Chapter Name.md files are author-only. If an agent modifies one, treat that as a mistake — the AGENTS.md template instructs it not to.
• Research.md is a mixed Markdown/YAML log. Each topic section has a small YAML block (topic, date, agent, word_count, verified) followed by the free-form interaction. The YAML lets you track what's been verified and by whom.
• Summary.md is ephemeral. Every bora write status run archives it. Don't invest in maintaining it by hand — that's the AI's job.
• ChapterProject.md drives the briefing. The status field (draft, in-progress, completed) and target_words feed the compiled status output. Keep them up to date.
• Chapter IDs are calculated, not counted. Deleting a chapter directory doesn't reset the counter — the next chapter always gets max(existing IDs) + 1. You won't accidentally reuse an ID.

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Working across models

Bora is model-agnostic. It produces plain Markdown and YAML that any LLM can read.

Chat-only models (web Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)

For dev projects, run bora dev context --budget <N> and paste the output as your first message. The model gets the same complete briefing every time.

For write projects, run bora write status and paste the output. Ask the model to generate a Summary.md and save its response.

Agentic tools with file access (Claude Code, Cursor, Aider, etc.)

The model reads AGENTS.md and follows its instructions to discover the rest. For dev projects, the agent can run bora dev ticket set, bora dev lint, and bora dev status directly from its shell as work progresses.

Local models

The same flows work with local models. Smaller models (under ~14B parameters) may occasionally produce malformed YAML frontmatter in ticket or planning files. Run bora dev lint after any model writes to a ticket file to catch these early.

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Upgrading

From 0.3.x to 0.3.5

0.3.5 adds .bora/project.json to track the active project file. New projects get it automatically via bora dev init. For existing 0.3.x projects, bora falls back to docs/ai/Project.md without a pointer file — everything keeps working. The pointer is written the first time you run bora dev project.

Summary archives are now named (YYYY-MM-DD) Summary.md instead of YYYY-MM-DD - Summary.md. Existing archives are not renamed.

From 0.2.x to 0.3.x

Bora 0.3.0 moved all commands under bora dev or bora write. The old top-level bora init prints a deprecation warning and exits.

1. Upgrade bora:

   pipx upgrade bora
   

2. Add a profile file. Run any bora dev command and choose dev at the prompt — bora writes the file automatically. Or create it manually:

   mkdir -p .bora
   cat > .bora/profile.json << 'EOF'
   {
     "version": "0.3.5",
     "profile": "dev",
     "initialized_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
     "config": { "auto_archive": true, "research_log_mode": "full_interaction" }
   }
   EOF
   

3. All existing tickets, docs/ai/ files, and AGENTS.md are untouched. Commands that used to be bora ticket ... are now bora dev ticket ....

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Contributing

The source is in bora/. Here's what each module does:

File	Purpose
cli.py	Click command surface — dev and write subgroups, profile-aware help filtering
profile.py	.bora/profile.json read/write/lock, upgrade prompt
paths.py	Repo-root detection and shared path constants
templates.py	All scaffolded file templates (dev and write)
ticket.py	Frontmatter parsing, fuzzy ID matching, body progress tracking
create.py	Chronological ticket ID generation
lint.py	Frontmatter validation rules
status.py	Tasks.md generation
context.py	Briefing assembly with optional token budget
skill.py	Dev SKILL.md template and per-tool install/uninstall
dev_project.py	bora dev project — archive, create, and project.json management
writer_init.py	bora write init scaffolding
writer_chapter.py	bora write chapter scaffolding and ID calculation
writer_status.py	bora write status context compiler and Summary archival
writer_skill.py	bora write skill install/uninstall obsidian

Tests live in tests/, one file per phase. Run them with:

python -m pytest tests/ -v

To manually smoke-test a dev project:

mkdir /tmp/test-bora && cd /tmp/test-bora && git init
bora dev init
bora dev ticket new "Test ticket" --priority high --no-edit
bora dev ticket set 01 status in-progress
bora dev status
bora dev lint

To smoke-test a write project:

mkdir /tmp/test-write && cd /tmp/test-write
bora write init
bora write chapter "First Chapter"
bora write chapter "Second Chapter"
bora write status

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License

MIT.