Boss

December 15, 2025 · View on GitHub

Boss is an open source dependency manager inspired by npm for projects developed in Delphi and Lazarus.

🚀 Getting started

We have a Getting Started article to help you get started with Boss.

📦 Installation

Download setup
Just type boss in the terminal
(Optional) Install a Boss Delphi IDE complement

Or you can use the following the steps below:

Download the latest version of the Boss
Extract the files to a folder
Add the folder to the system path
Run the command boss in the terminal

Global Flags

> Global (-g)

Use global environment for installation. Packages installed globally are available system-wide:

boss install -g <dependency>
boss --global install <dependency>

> Debug (-d)

Enable debug mode to see detailed output:

boss install --debug
boss -d install

> Help (-h)

Show help for any command:

boss --help
boss <command> --help

Configuration

> Delphi Version

You can configure which Delphi version BOSS should use for compilation. This is useful when you have multiple Delphi versions installed.

List available versions

Lists all detected Delphi installations (32-bit and 64-bit) with their indexes.

boss config delphi list

Select a version

Selects a specific Delphi version to use globally. You can use the index from the list command, the version number, or the version with architecture.

boss config delphi use <index>
# or
boss config delphi use <version>
# or
boss config delphi use <version>-<arch>

Example:

boss config delphi use 0
boss config delphi use 37.0
boss config delphi use 37.0-Win64

> Git Client

You can configure which Git client BOSS should use.

embedded: Uses the built-in go-git client (default).
native: Uses the system's installed git client (git.exe).

Using native is recommended on Windows if you need support for core.autocrlf (automatic line ending conversion).

boss config git mode native
# or
boss config git mode embedded

You can enable shallow cloning to significantly speed up dependency downloads. Shallow clones only fetch the latest commit without the full git history, reducing download size dramatically (e.g., from 127 MB to <1 MB for large repositories).

# Enable shallow clone (faster, recommended for CI/CD)
boss config git shallow true

# Disable shallow clone (full history)
boss config git shallow false

Note: Shallow clone is disabled by default to maintain compatibility. When enabled, you won't have access to the full git history of dependencies.

You can also temporarily enable shallow clone using an environment variable:

# Windows
set BOSS_GIT_SHALLOW=1
boss install

# Linux/macOS
BOSS_GIT_SHALLOW=1 boss install

> Project Toolchain

You can also specify the required compiler version and platform in your project's boss.json file. This ensures that everyone working on the project uses the correct toolchain.

Add a toolchain section to your boss.json:

{
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "toolchain": {
    "compiler": "37.0",
    "platform": "Win64"
  }
}

Supported fields in toolchain:

compiler: The compiler version (e.g., "37.0").
platform: The target platform ("Win32" or "Win64").
path: Explicit path to the compiler (optional).
strict: If true, fails if the exact version is not found (optional).

Samples

boss install horse
boss install horse:1.0.0
boss install -g delphi-docker
boss install -g boss-ide

Using semantic versioning to specify update types your package can accept

You can specify which update types your package can accept from dependencies in your package's boss.json file.

For example, to specify acceptable version ranges up to 1.0.4, use the following syntax:

Patch releases: 1.0 or 1.0.x or ~1.0.4
Minor releases: 1 or 1.x or ^1.0.4
Major releases: * or x

boss.json File Format

The boss.json file is the manifest for your Delphi/Lazarus project. It contains metadata, dependencies, build configuration, and custom scripts.

Complete Structure

Here's a comprehensive example showing all available fields:

{
  "name": "my-project",
  "description": "A sample Delphi project using Boss",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "homepage": "https://github.com/myuser/my-project",
  "mainsrc": "src/",
  "browsingpath": "src/;libs/",
  "projects": [
    "MyProject.dproj",
    "MyPackage.dproj"
  ],
  "dependencies": {
    "github.com/HashLoad/horse": "^3.0.0",
    "github.com/HashLoad/jhonson": "~2.1.0",
    "dataset-serialize": "*"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "build": "msbuild MyProject.dproj /p:Config=Release",
    "test": "MyProject.exe --test",
    "clean": "del /s *.dcu"
  },
  "engines": {
    "compiler": ">=35.0",
    "platforms": ["Win32", "Win64"]
  },
  "toolchain": {
    "compiler": "37.0",
    "platform": "Win64",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Embarcadero\\Studio\\37.0",
    "strict": false
  }
}

Field Descriptions

Core Fields

name (required): Package name. Must be unique if publishing.
```
"name": "my-awesome-library"
```
description (optional): A brief description of your project.
```
"description": "REST API framework for Delphi"
```
version (required): Package version following semantic versioning.
```
"version": "1.2.3"
```
homepage (optional): Project website or repository URL.
```
"homepage": "https://github.com/myuser/my-project"
```

Source Configuration

mainsrc (optional): Main source directory path.
```
"mainsrc": "src/"
```
browsingpath (optional): Additional paths for IDE browsing (semicolon-separated).
```
"browsingpath": "src/;src/controllers/;src/models/"
```

Build Configuration

projects (optional): List of Delphi project files (.dproj) to compile.
```
"projects": [
  "MyProject.dproj",
  "MyLibrary.dproj"
]
```
Note: If not specified, Boss won't compile the package but will still manage dependencies.

Dependencies

dependencies (optional): Map of package dependencies with version constraints.
```
"dependencies": {
  "github.com/HashLoad/horse": "^3.0.0",
  "dataset-serialize": "~2.1.0",
  "jhonson": "*"
}
```
Supported version formats:
- Exact version: "1.0.0"
- Caret (minor updates): "^1.0.0" (allows 1.x.x, but not 2.x.x)
- Tilde (patch updates): "~1.0.0" (allows 1.0.x, but not 1.1.x)
- Wildcard (any): "*" or "x"
- Range: ">=1.0.0 <2.0.0"

Custom Scripts

scripts (optional): Custom commands you can run with boss run <script-name>.

"scripts": {
  "build": "msbuild MyProject.dproj /p:Config=Release",
  "test": "dunitx-console.exe MyProject.exe",
  "clean": "del /s *.dcu *.exe",
  "deploy": "xcopy /s /y bin\\*.exe deploy\\"
}

Execute with:

boss run build
boss run test

Engine Requirements

engines (optional): Specify minimum compiler/platform requirements.
```
"engines": {
  "compiler": ">=35.0",
  "platforms": ["Win32", "Win64", "Linux64"]
}
```
- compiler: Minimum compiler version
- platforms: Supported target platforms

Toolchain Configuration

toolchain (optional): Specify the exact toolchain to use for this project.
```
"toolchain": {
  "compiler": "37.0",
  "platform": "Win64",
  "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Embarcadero\\Studio\\37.0",
  "strict": true
}
```
- compiler: Required compiler version
- platform: Target platform ("Win32", "Win64", "Linux64", etc.)
- path: Explicit path to the compiler (optional)
- strict: If true, fails if the exact version is not found (default: false)

Minimal boss.json

The minimal valid boss.json file:

{
  "name": "my-project",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

Creating a new boss.json

Use boss init to create a new boss.json interactively:

boss init

Or use quiet mode for defaults:

boss init -q

Example: Library Package

{
  "name": "my-delphi-library",
  "description": "Utilities for Delphi applications",
  "version": "2.1.0",
  "homepage": "https://github.com/myuser/my-library",
  "mainsrc": "src/",
  "projects": [
    "MyLibrary.dproj"
  ],
  "dependencies": {
    "github.com/HashLoad/horse": "^3.0.0"
  }
}

Example: Application Package

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "description": "My awesome Delphi application",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "projects": [
    "MyApp.dproj"
  ],
  "dependencies": {
    "github.com/HashLoad/horse": "^3.0.0"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "build": "msbuild MyApp.dproj /p:Config=Release",
    "run": "bin\\MyApp.exe",
    "test": "dunitx-console.exe bin\\MyAppTests.exe"
  },
  "toolchain": {
    "compiler": "37.0",
    "platform": "Win32"
  }
}

💻 Code Contributors

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