Addons

• 1: Overview
• 2: Language Runtimes
• 3: Tool Bundles
• 4: Documentation Frameworks
• 5: LaTeX Build and Preview

1 - Overview

Addons

aibox uses the Debian runtime image family (base-debian-v0.26.x for legacy releases, base-debian-runtime-v0.27.0+ after the image-tag cutover) with 31 composable addons that install language runtimes, tool bundles, documentation frameworks, and AI coding agents into your container.

Managing Addons

Via CLI

# See all available addons
aibox get addon

# Add an addon (updates aibox.toml and runs apply)
aibox set addon python

# Remove an addon
aibox delete addon python

# View addon details (tools, versions)
aibox describe addon rust

# Emit the machine-readable addon catalog index
aibox describe addon-catalog -o json

Via aibox.toml

[addons.python.tools]
python = { version = "3.14" }
uv = { version = "0.12.0" }

[addons.rust.tools]
rustc = { version = "1.97.1" }
clippy = {}
rustfmt = {}

[addons.node.tools]
node = { version = "26" }
pnpm = { version = "11.18.0" }

Each addon has default-enabled tools that are included automatically, and optional tools you can enable explicitly. Tools with version selection let you pick from curated, tested versions.

aibox describe addon-catalog -o json emits the stable aibox.addon-catalog.v0 index used by downstream automation. It includes each addon’s profile intent, automation usage class, supported aibox profiles, exported surfaces, dependencies, and tool metadata. Canonical processkit Artifact{kind=addon-spec} emission remains gated on the upstream processkit schema release.

After editing aibox.toml, run aibox apply to regenerate the Dockerfile and rebuild.

Available Addons

Language Runtimes

Tool Bundles

Documentation Frameworks

AI Harnesses

AI harnesses are selected under [ai], not as public addon blocks. aibox still uses internal install recipes for container CLIs when install = true.

[ai]
harnesses = [
  { harness = "claude", enable = true, install = true },
  { harness = "codex", enable = true, install = true, version = "latest" },
]

Legacy [addons.ai-*.tools] entries are accepted for compatibility, but fresh scaffolding keeps AI configuration in the [ai] section.

Addons and Skills

As of v0.16.0, all skills live in processkit. Projects using context.mode = "processkit" install processkit skills under context/skills/ independently from addons. Projects using context.mode = "harness-only" do not install processkit skills at all. There is no longer an addon-driven “auto-deploy a skill” mechanism.

The relevant skills for each addon’s tooling are still in the catalogue — agents pick them up via skill descriptions, not via addon membership:

See Skills (via processkit) for the full split.

How Addons Work

When you run aibox apply, the CLI:

1. Reads [addons] from aibox.toml
2. Looks up each addon definition from YAML files in ~/.config/aibox/addons/
3. Merges your tool selections with addon defaults
4. Generates Dockerfile builder stages (for heavy builds like Rust, LaTeX)
5. Generates runtime RUN/COPY commands
6. Builds the container image

Addons that need compilation (Rust, LaTeX, infrastructure, Kubernetes) use multi-stage Docker builds – heavy compilation happens in isolated builder stages, and only the final binaries are copied into the runtime image.

Addon Definition Format

Addon definitions are YAML files stored in ~/.config/aibox/addons/ with category subdirectories (languages/, tools/, docs/, ai/). They are installed automatically by the install script and updated when you upgrade aibox.

Extra Packages

For one-off apt packages not covered by addons, use extra_packages:

[container]
extra_packages = ["universal-ctags", "graphviz", "postgresql-client"]

These are installed during aibox apply via the generated Dockerfile. They persist across container restarts but are reinstalled on image rebuild.

Version Selection

Each tool in an addon has a curated list of supported versions. Use aibox describe addon <name> to see available versions:

$ aibox describe addon python
Add-on: python
Recipe version: 1.0.0

  TOOL      DEFAULT    VERSION  SUPPORTED
  python        yes       3.14  3.12, 3.13, 3.14
  uv            yes    0.12.0  0.7, 0.11.10, 0.11.11, 0.11.15, 0.11.19, 0.11.26, 0.12.0
  poetry         no      2.4.1  1.8, 2.0, 2.4.1
  pdm            no     2.28.0  2.22, 2.26.9, 2.27.0, 2.28.0

Tools marked “DEFAULT: yes” are included automatically when you set the addon. Tools marked “no” must be explicitly listed in your aibox.toml to be installed.

2 - Language Runtimes

Language Runtime Addons

Language runtimes install compilers, interpreters, and package managers into your container.

Python

[addons.python.tools]
python = { version = "3.14" }   # 3.12, 3.13, 3.14
uv = { version = "0.12.0" }    # 0.7, 0.11.10, 0.11.11, 0.11.15, 0.11.19, 0.11.26, 0.12.0
# poetry = { version = "2.4.1" } # Optional: 1.8, 2.0, 2.4.1
# pdm = { version = "2.28.0" }   # Optional: 2.22, 2.26.9, 2.27.0, 2.28.0

Installs Python, pip, venv, and uv (fast package manager). The base image pins uv to the curated default instead of following a floating latest image tag. Poetry and PDM are available but not enabled by default.

Rust

[addons.rust.tools]
rustc = { version = "1.97.1" }  # 1.90, 1.91, 1.92, 1.93, 1.94, 1.94.1, 1.96.0, 1.96.1, 1.97.1
clippy = {}                     # Linter (no version selection)
rustfmt = {}                    # Formatter (no version selection)

Installs the Rust toolchain via rustup with clippy and rustfmt. Uses a multi-stage Docker build — compilation happens in a builder stage and only the toolchain is copied to the runtime image.

Node.js

[addons.node.tools]
node = { version = "26" }       # 20, 22, 24, 26
pnpm = { version = "11.18.0" }  # 9, 10, 11.1.3, 11.5.2, 11.10.0, 11.18.0
# yarn = { version = "4.17.0" } # Optional: 4, 4.16.0, 4.17.0
# bun = { version = "1.3.14" }  # Optional

Installs Node.js via NodeSource, plus pnpm as default package manager. Yarn and Bun are available but not enabled by default.

Go

[addons.go.tools]
go = { version = "1.26.5" }     # 1.25, 1.26, 1.26.3, 1.26.4, 1.26.5

Installs Go and sets up GOPATH.

Typst

[addons.typst.tools]
typst = { version = "0.15.0" }  # 0.13.1, 0.14.2, 0.15.0

Installs the Typst typesetting system for modern document creation.

LaTeX

[addons.latex.tools]
texlive-core = {}               # Base TeX Live installation
texlive-recommended = {}        # Common packages
texlive-fonts = {}              # Font packages
biber = {}                      # Bibliography processor
texlive-code = {}               # Code listing packages
texlive-diagrams = {}           # TikZ, PGF, circuit diagrams
texlive-math = {}               # Math packages
# texlive-music = {}            # Optional: LilyPond, MusiXTeX
# texlive-chemistry = {}        # Optional: chemfig, mhchem

Installs TeX Live via a multi-stage Docker build. The full TeX Live installation happens in a builder stage and only the final tree is copied to the runtime image, keeping layer sizes manageable.

Use the LaTeX build and preview workflow to define named documents, run reproducible latexmk builds and watchers inside the development container, and serve completed PDFs through the read-only EmbedPDF sidecar.

Emoji rendering with LuaLaTeX

The runtime image ships fonts-noto-color-emoji so emoji glyphs render correctly in LuaLaTeX documents. To wire it up, add the following to your preamble:

\directlua{luaotfload.add_fallback("emojifallback",{"NotoColorEmoji:mode=harf;"})}
\setmainfont{FreeSans}[Scale=0.95,RawFeature={fallback=emojifallback}]

Without the fallback configured, emoji characters render as missing-glyph boxes even though the font is installed.

3 - Tool Bundles

Tool Bundle Addons

Tool bundles install infrastructure, orchestration, and cloud CLI tools.

Git UI

[addons.git-ui.tools]
gh = {}        # GitHub CLI
lazygit = {}   # Interactive Git TUI

The git-ui addon is optional. Select it when a project needs GitHub CLI automation or lazygit inside the container; omit it to avoid installing those tools. This aibox repo may enable it for maintenance workflows such as release checks and GitHub issue/release work, but downstream projects do not need it by default.

Preview and Archive Tools

[addons.preview-archive.tools]
chafa = {}
timg = {}
poppler = {}
mupdf = {}
entr = {}
p7zip = {}
resvg = {}

preview-archive contains the terminal image/PDF/SVG/archive helper binaries used by Yazi previews and watch-mode document workflows. Keep it disabled for lean headless projects that do not inspect media or generated documents inside the terminal.

preview-enhanced layers Markdown, EPS, video, and Ghostscript support on top of preview-archive.

Data Preview

[addons.data-preview.tools]
sqlite3 = {}
csvkit = {}

data-preview adds read-only SQLite inspection and CSV, TSV, XLS, and XLSX formatting for the generated Yazi preview plugins.

Audio and Voice

[audio]
enabled = true

Audio bridging uses the internal audio-voice recipe for Sox, PulseAudio client tools, and ALSA PulseAudio plugins. aibox selects this recipe automatically when [audio] enabled = true and install = true; projects normally do not need to add [addons.audio-voice.tools] manually.

Infrastructure

[addons.infrastructure.tools]
opentofu = {}      # Infrastructure-as-code (Terraform alternative)
ansible = {}       # Configuration management
packer = {}        # Machine image builder

OpenTofu defaults to 1.12.5, Packer to 1.16.0, and Ansible to 14.2.0. OpenTofu and Packer are installed in a multi-stage builder. Ansible is installed via pip.

Kubernetes

[addons.kubernetes.tools]
kubectl = {}       # Kubernetes CLI
helm = {}          # Package manager
kustomize = {}     # Configuration customization
# k9s = {}         # Optional: terminal UI for Kubernetes

kubectl defaults to 1.36.3, Helm to 4.2.3, Kustomize to 5.8.1, and k9s to 0.51.0. All tools are downloaded as static binaries in a multi-stage builder.

Cloud Providers

AWS

[addons.cloud-aws.tools]
aws-cli = {}

Installs the AWS CLI v2.

Google Cloud

[addons.cloud-gcp.tools]
gcloud-cli = {}

Installs the Google Cloud CLI via the official APT repository.

Azure

[addons.cloud-azure.tools]
azure-cli = {}

Installs the Azure CLI via pip.

4 - Documentation Frameworks

Documentation Framework Addons

Documentation addons install static site generators and documentation tools.

Current curated pins are Docusaurus 3.10.1, Hugo 0.164.0, mdBook 0.5.4, MkDocs 1.6.1 with Material 9.7.7, and Zensical 0.0.52. Starlight remains scaffolded through the upstream create-starlight package.

Example

[addons.docs-docusaurus.tools]
docusaurus = {}

After aibox apply, the documentation tool is available inside the container. Initialize your docs project as usual (e.g., npx create-docusaurus@latest docs classic).

5 - LaTeX Build and Preview

LaTeX Build and Preview

The latex addon supplies TeX Live, latexmk, bibliography tools, fonts, and common package groups. aibox adds a project-level build contract on top so humans and agents use the same engine, cache, output paths, and document names.

Configure documents

Enable the addon and declare one or more documents:

[addons.latex.tools]
texlive-core = {}
texlive-recommended = {}
texlive-fonts = {}
biber = {}

[latex]
engine = "lualatex"
cache_dir = ".latex-cache"
options = []

[[latex.documents]]
name = "overview"
source = "docs/overview/overview.tex"
output_dir = ".latex-cache/overview"

[[latex.documents]]
name = "appendix"
source = "docs/appendix/appendix.tex"
output_dir = ".latex-cache/appendix"

[latex.preview]
enabled = true
engine = "embedpdf"
bind = "127.0.0.1"
port = 8765
# document = "overview" # optional compatibility-route default
allow_public = false

Supported engines are lualatex, pdflatex, xelatex, and tectonic. Continuous watch mode uses latexmk, so tectonic configurations support one-shot builds only.

Build and watch

Run these commands inside the development container. aibox apply generates them under .aibox-home/.local/bin, which is already on the container PATH:

aibox-latex-build                 # every configured document
aibox-latex-build overview        # one configured document
aibox-latex-watch overview        # foreground watcher; stop with Ctrl-C

Builds use non-interactive, file-and-line-error, halt-on-error flags. Watch mode adds latexmk -pvc -view=none, leaving browser preview ownership to the sidecar. TEXMFVAR and TEXMFCONFIG live below latex.cache_dir, so TeX does not write mutable state to the user’s global TeX tree.

Compilation never runs on the host or in the preview sidecar. The scripts use the TeX installation in the main development container, keep the watch process in the foreground, and write PDFs below each configured output_dir. Run one watcher per document when several documents should rebuild concurrently.

Running aibox apply adds a concise, conditional aibox-managed LaTeX section to AGENTS.md. This is the primary instruction surface for AI agents and gives them the configured container commands, companion health check, preview URLs, and document paths without adding another root-level guidance file.

Live PDF preview

When preview is enabled, aibox apply generates a dedicated Compose sidecar and port mapping. Host-side aibox up starts that sidecar, which serves every configured document from the project workspace mounted read-only. The sidecar does not contain a TeX toolchain and cannot modify the workspace. latex.preview.document chooses the preferred document used by compatibility routes; it does not exclude the others.

Inspect its logs with:

docker compose -f .devcontainer/docker-compose.yml logs <project-container-name>-latex-preview

aibox down stops the sidecar with the rest of the Compose project. A subsequent aibox up starts it again. With multiple documents, the root URL displays a selection page. Each PDF also has a stable direct URL:

http://127.0.0.1:8765/
http://127.0.0.1:8765/documents/overview/
http://127.0.0.1:8765/documents/appendix/

The stable URL is http://127.0.0.1:8765/. The service watches the completed PDF output for every document, waits for its metadata to remain stable across multiple polls, and then sends a document-specific SSE revision event. This prevents the browser from fetching a partially-written PDF. The browser requests a versioned PDF URL on reload so a stale cache cannot hide a new build. Page and zoom state are retained separately for each document.

The viewer uses the pinned @embedpdf/snippet browser package. Its default toolbar provides navigation, zoom, search, thumbnails, and outline support when the PDF contains an outline. The browser must be able to reach jsDelivr to load the pinned viewer module; the PDF itself is served by the local preview sidecar.

Host and network access

The preview helper listens on 0.0.0.0:8765 inside its isolated sidecar. The generated Compose mapping publishes that internal port only on the configured host address and port. The secure default is therefore accessible from the host browser but not from other machines:

[latex.preview]
enabled = true
bind = "127.0.0.1"
port = 8765
allow_public = false

Run aibox apply after changing this configuration, then run aibox up on the host. Do not add a manual override mapping; aibox generates 127.0.0.1:8765:8765 in .devcontainer/docker-compose.yml.

For access from another machine on the local network, explicitly expose the unauthenticated endpoint:

[latex.preview]
enabled = true
bind = "0.0.0.0"
port = 8765
allow_public = true

This generates 0.0.0.0:8765:8765. Open http://<host-ip>:8765/ and ensure the host firewall permits the port. Prefer the loopback default plus SSH forwarding when possible.

Remote hosts over SSH

The default bind address is loopback and is suitable for SSH forwarding:

ssh -L 8765:127.0.0.1:8765 user@remote-host

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8765/ locally. Publishing on a non-loopback host address is rejected unless allow_public = true is also set. That opt-in exposes an unauthenticated PDF endpoint; prefer an SSH tunnel.