Manik Surtani
ffc2471d5a
Co-authored-by: Michael Neale <michael.neale@gmail.com> Co-authored-by: angiejones <jones.angie@gmail.com>
2.1 KiB
2.1 KiB
title, sidebar_position, sidebar_label
| title | sidebar_position | sidebar_label |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Distributions | 60 | Custom Distributions |
Custom Distributions
goose is designed to be forked and customized. You can create your own "distro" of goose preconfigured with specific providers, bundled extensions, custom branding, and tailored workflows for your organization or audience.
What you can customize
| What You Want | Complexity |
|---|---|
| Preconfigure a model/provider | Low |
| Add custom AI providers (declarative JSON, no code) | Low |
| Bundle custom MCP extensions | Medium |
| Modify system prompts | Low |
| Customize desktop branding (icons, names, colors) | Medium |
| Build a new UI via REST API or ACP | High |
| Create guided workflows with recipes | Low |
Getting started
The full guide lives in the repo root since you'll need to work at the code level to build a custom distribution:
It covers:
- Architecture overview — how goose's layers (UI → server → core) fit together
- Configuration-only customization — environment variables,
config.yaml,init-config.yaml - Extension bundling — adding MCP servers as built-in extensions or via recipes
- Custom branding — replacing icons, app names, system prompts
- Building new interfaces — integrating via the REST API or Agent Client Protocol (ACP)
- Custom AI providers — declarative JSON providers or implementing the Provider trait
- Recipes & subagents — distributing preconfigured workflows
- Licensing & contribution guidance — staying compliant with Apache 2.0
Quick example: ship goose with a local model
The simplest custom distribution just sets environment defaults:
export GOOSE_PROVIDER=ollama
export GOOSE_MODEL=qwen3-coder:latest
Or create an init-config.yaml applied on first run:
GOOSE_PROVIDER: ollama
GOOSE_MODEL: qwen3-coder:latest
See the full guide for more scenarios including corporate API key distribution, audience-specific builds, and custom UIs.