adb can find device but fastboot cannot Context

I can run adb commands on my Nexus 4 and they work fine but when my device is in the bootloader and I try to list the device with,

fastboot devices


my device is not listed. I was having problems with adb on my Windows 7 VM due to driver issues, so I switched to OSX because it does not require any drivers.

I think I may have corrupted my bootloader and recovery in my previous attempts to root my phone with a toolkit(I know I should have done it manually).

Question

Is it possible to reinstall my bootloader or a recovery using just adb i.e. without using fastboot?
The problem with my device not showing up with the fastboot devices command resolved itself. I was then able to flash a custom recovery.

The only thing I did different was, I rebooted my computer and symlinked the adb and fastboot commands in my bin folder.