# boxen/boxen

Manage Mac development boxes with love (and Puppet).

Repository: https://github.com/boxen/boxen
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/boxen-boxen
Language: Ruby
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Archived: true
Last push: 2018-03-25T21:14:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5085, "days_push": 3083, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1569, forks 135 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:05.223000+00:00)

## What it is
Boxen is a Ruby-based tool that automates provisioning of macOS development machines using Puppet manifests. It manages services, Homebrew packages, and project setup as launchd services under a dedicated Boxen home directory.

## Use cases
- set up a new mac for development automatically
- provision mac development machines with puppet
- manage dev tools and services on osx declaratively
- onboard new developers with a repeatable mac setup
- run local dev services as launchd daemons

## When to choose
- you maintain a legacy mac fleet already provisioned with Boxen
- you want Puppet-based declarative macOS setup and know the Boxen ecosystem

## When to avoid
- starting a new mac provisioning project - the project is unmaintained since 2018
- you need modern macOS version support or active community support
- you prefer simpler dotfiles or Ansible/MDM-based approaches

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: configuration-management, deployment, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, apple-ecosystem
- platform: cli, ruby
- tags: puppet, macos-provisioning, dev-environment, launchd, homebrew, devops, automation, macos

## Member repositories
- boxen/boxen (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:05.223000+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:58:35.907188+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/boxen/boxen (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:05.223000+00:00, sha 3afb3843993b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.