Bolt vs Jinn | agentconfig.ing

Bolt vs JinnComparisonUpdated 2026-03-18

SUMMARY

Bolt (Platform) uses text configuration while Jinn (CLI) uses yaml. They differ on 5 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Bolt	Jinn	Notes
Config format	text	yaml
Hierarchy support	✗	✗	Whether config files can be placed at multiple directory levels
Global config	✗	✓	User-wide configuration outside any project
Project config	✓	✗
Subdirectory scoping	✗	✗	Config files in subdirectories that apply only to that subtree
File inclusion / imports	✗	✗	Ability to include or reference other files from config
Ignore file	✗	✗
IDE integration	Platform	CLI
Schema / structure	Free-form (Markdown)	unknown	Whether config uses structured schema or free-form content
Git committed	✓	✓	Whether primary config files are intended to be version-controlled
Encoding	UTF-8	UTF-8

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Config format

Bolt: text. Jinn: yaml.

2. Global config

Bolt: Not supported. Jinn: Supported.

3. Project config

Bolt: Supported. Jinn: Not supported.

4. IDE integration

Bolt: Platform. Jinn: CLI.

5. Schema / structure

Bolt: Free-form (Markdown). Jinn: unknown.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Bolt, configure .bolt/prompt. If you use Jinn, configure config.yaml. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.

PORTABILITY TIP

sync-instructions.sh

bash

# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md

SUMMARY

FEATURE COMPARISON

KEY DIFFERENCES

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

PORTABILITY TIP

SEE ALSO