In development and not released yet. Follow along here.
Free and open source · runs on your own computer
Steady income, held loosely.
Project Boaz is a free tool that runs a simple, rule-based covered-call routine in your own Alpaca brokerage account. You set the rules. Boaz follows them, explains every step, and stops the moment you ask.
Let some grain fall on purpose for her to gather, and do not rebuke her. Boaz to his reapers, Ruth 2:16 (paraphrased)
How it works
One small routine, done the same way every week
A covered call means you own 100 shares of a stock and sell someone the right to buy them from you at a higher price by a set date. You collect a small payment, called the premium, up front. If the price passes that level, your shares are sold at it.
- You own the sharesBoaz only works with shares you already hold, in blocks of 100.
- Boaz finds one call per blockAbout a week out, at a price well above today's, using rules you can change.
- You approve, or let it runManual mode asks first. Autonomous mode stays inside hard daily limits.
- The premium is split your wayPart buys more shares toward your next block. Part is set aside as income you can withdraw yourself.
- Action
- Sell 1 covered call
- Shares held
- 100 of ticker XYZ
- Expiration
- Nearest date 5–9 days out
- Strike
- ≥ 5% above price, delta ≈ 0.20
- Strike floor
- Not below your cost per share
- Order
- Limit at mid, day order
Why: you hold 100 free shares, no earnings report falls before expiration, and the quote spread is narrow enough to trade. If the stock rises past the strike, your shares are sold there and Boaz records the gain.
Illustrative only. Not a recommendation of any security.
Covered calls by rule
Strike, expiration and when to close are set by rules you can read and change. No guessing, no forecasts.
Reinvest or take income
Choose Growth, Balanced or Income mode. Every dollar lands in one clear bucket so nothing is counted twice.
Manual or autonomous
Approve each trade, or let Boaz act inside daily limits. A kill switch cancels open orders at once.
Plain explanations
Each action comes with a short explanation of the rule that fired. Claude can write them if you add your own key.
Yours, on your machine
Runs in Docker on your computer. Your keys and data never leave it, and Boaz sends nothing to us.
Practice first, if you want
Run Boaz on Alpaca's free paper account with simulated money to watch it work, or connect your live account from day one.
Choosing tickers
A covered call can't fix a bad stock
The premium from a covered call is small. If the stock underneath falls hard, you still take the whole loss. So the most important choice is the one Boaz leaves to you: which shares to own.
Boaz never picks or ranks stocks for you. It does check every ticker against fixed, published rules and refuses or warns on clear red flags before it will buy shares or sell a call.
| Check | Default rule | Result | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leveraged or inverse ETF | Any 2x, 3x, Ultra, Bear or Inverse fund | Blocked | Designed to lose value over time; can fall far in a single day |
| Share price | Under $10 | Blocked | Low-priced shares are usually small, fragile companies |
| Listing | Not on a major US exchange | Blocked | Over-the-counter names trade thinly with little oversight |
| Share trading | Under $50M traded per day | Blocked | Thinly traded shares are hard to sell at a fair price |
| Options trading | Under 1,000 contracts per day | Blocked | Wide price gaps eat the premium |
| Implied volatility | Above 60% | Warning | A big premium usually means the market expects a big move, often down |
| Concentration | One ticker over 40% of the account | Warning | One bad stock can sink everything |
| Recent drop | Down more than 30% in 3 months | Warning | Often a sign of trouble, not a bargain |
Every number is a setting you can change, but blocked rules can only be loosened behind a clear warning. Warnings must be confirmed before Boaz acts.
Starting with less money
Solid companies and broad funds with active options are rarely cheap, and 100 shares can cost thousands of dollars or more. Boaz shows the cost of one 100-share block for every ticker that passes the screen, so you can see what fits.
Building toward your first 100
If you can't afford a full block yet, run Growth mode with no calls. Boaz buys whole shares as you add money and starts selling calls only once you hold 100. Broad, diversified funds are a common place to start; the SEC's Investor.gov explains how they work.
Read this before anything else
You can lose money using Boaz
Boaz is software, not a financial adviser. It does not know your situation and makes no promise of income. Please read the official options risk booklet before trading options.
- Your shares can still fall. A covered call adds a small premium but leaves you holding the full downside of the stock. The ticker screen catches obvious red flags, not every bad stock.
- Your upside is capped. If the stock jumps, your shares are sold at the strike and you miss the rest of the rise.
- Assignment can happen early or unexpectedly, including after the market closes on expiration day.
- Software can fail. Bugs, outages, bad quotes or a computer that is switched off can cause missed or wrong trades.
- Taxes apply. Premiums and shares called away usually create short-term taxable gains.
- Nothing here is advice. Boaz is not financial, tax or legal advice, and is not affiliated with Alpaca or Anthropic.
User guide
From download to your first trade
The full guide ships with the software. This is the short version.
What you need
- An Alpaca account with options trading enabled (level 1 covers covered calls).
- A computer that stays on during market hours, with Docker installed.
- Optional: a Claude API key for written explanations.
Install
Download the release, then run
docker compose up -dand openhttp://localhost:3000. The setup page walks you through the rest.First-run setup
- Set a local password.
- Enter your Alpaca keys and test them. Paper keys are recommended to start, but live keys work too.
- Choose your tickers and a mode.
- Read and accept the risk notice.
Choosing tickers
Add the tickers you already own or want to own. Boaz checks each one against the ticker screen above and shows the cost of a 100-share block. Blocked tickers can't be added; warnings need your confirmation.
Choosing a mode
- Growth: all income buys more shares.
- Balanced: you choose the split.
- Income: most income is set aside for you to withdraw.
Manual and autonomous
Start in Manual and approve each suggestion. Boaz recommends two weeks of paper trading before turning on Autonomous; you can skip that after reading a warning. Autonomous always keeps its daily limits.
Going live
Switch to your live keys whenever you are ready. Starting with one ticker and one block of 100 shares is a sensible first step.
Faith
Who was Boaz?
Boaz appears in the book of Ruth, a short story set in Bethlehem about three thousand years ago. Naomi has lost her husband and sons, and her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth, a foreigner from Moab, chooses to stay with her. With nothing to live on, Ruth goes out to gather the leftover grain behind the harvesters. She happens to end up in a field owned by Boaz.
Boaz is a well-off landowner, but the story remembers him for how he treats people. He greets his workers with a blessing, makes sure Ruth is safe, and quietly tells his harvesters to leave extra grain where she will find it. Later he steps in as Naomi's family redeemer: he buys back the family's land, marries Ruth, and gives the family a future. Their great-grandson is King David, and Boaz is named in the family line of Jesus in Matthew 1.
Leviticus 19:9–10 · Ruth 2
Leave the edges of the field
God's law told farmers not to harvest every last stalk, so the poor and the stranger could gather what was left. Boaz went further than the rule asked. That is why Boaz the software is free, why its defaults never squeeze out every dollar, and why this site points to people who help others with money.
Ruth 2:20 · Ruth 3:10
Kindness that keeps showing up
The Hebrew word that runs through Ruth is hesed: steady, loyal kindness. Boaz is not a get-rich-quick story. He works his land season after season and shares from it. Boaz the software tries to be the same kind of thing: slow, careful, honest about risk, and never ruled by the money.
Ruth 4 · Matthew 1:5
A redeemer
Ruth could not earn her way back into a family or a home. Boaz redeemed her because he chose to, at his own cost. Christians have long seen in him a picture of Jesus, who redeems us the same way.
Why Jesus comes first
Boaz the software can help you build some income. It can't tell you what you're worth, and no account balance can either. The heart of the Christian faith is that God's love isn't earned. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). That gift is Jesus.
Knowing that takes the pressure off money. It becomes something to steward and share, not something to prove yourself with. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Project Boaz exists to help with the treasure, and to point gently toward where the heart can rest.
You don't need to share this faith to use Boaz. It is free for everyone, and you are welcome here either way.
About
Who is behind it
Hi, I'm Alex, a young application developer. I've watched how hard it is for an everyday person to build any income beyond a paycheck, and it frustrates me. I don't believe anyone should have to spend their whole life with no independence from the job they work.
I came to faith in Jesus in 2025, and He has helped me in more ways than I can measure. Project Boaz is how I want to share that faith and help people like me: people in their twenties wondering how they will ever get on solid financial ground.
My favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
I believe spreading financial awareness and helping people build income of their own is part of God's plan for me. That is why Jesus comes first in this project, and why Boaz will stay free forever. Making money from it is not the point.
Leave the edges of the field
Support Boaz, or support someone who needs it more
Boaz will always be free. Donations cover development and the cost of hosting this site. If you would rather give where the need is greater, the organizations listed here help people with debt, budgeting and basic needs.
Donations to Project Boaz are gifts to an individual developer. They are not tax-deductible and do not buy any feature, support or advice.
These organizations are listed for information. They do not endorse Project Boaz.