Chops Ai Skills Manager

---
name: chops-ai-skills-manager
description: macOS app to browse, edit, and manage AI agent skills across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, and Amp
triggers:
  - manage my AI agent skills
  - organize claude code skills
  - add a new skill to cursor
  - browse skills across AI tools
  - edit my agent skills files
  - set up chops on my mac
  - create a new skill file
  - sync skills between AI coding tools
---

# Chops — AI Agent Skills Manager

> Skill by [ara.so](https://ara.so) — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

Chops is a native macOS app (SwiftUI + SwiftData) that discovers, organizes, and edits AI coding agent skill files across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, Copilot, Aider, and Amp — all in one place, with real-time file watching, full-text search, and a built-in markdown editor.

## Installation

### Download the App

```bash
# Direct download
curl -L https://github.com/Shpigford/chops/releases/latest/download/Chops.dmg -o Chops.dmg
open Chops.dmg

Or visit chops.md and click Download.

Build from Source

Prerequisites:

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later
• Xcode with command-line tools
• Homebrew

# Install dependencies
xcode-select --install
brew install xcodegen

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/Shpigford/chops.git
cd chops
xcodegen generate        # generates Chops.xcodeproj from project.yml
open Chops.xcodeproj     # then press Cmd+R to build and run

CLI Build (Headless)

xcodebuild -scheme Chops -configuration Debug build

Note: The .xcodeproj is generated from project.yml. Always edit project.yml and re-run xcodegen generate — never edit .xcodeproj directly.

Where Skills Live

Chops scans these directories automatically:

Copilot and Aider only detect project-level skills (no global paths). Custom paths can be added per tool in Settings.

Skill File Format

Skills are Markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill-name
description: One-line description of what this skill does
triggers:
  - phrase users might say
  - another trigger phrase
  - add 6-8 total triggers
---

# Skill Title

Main skill content in Markdown...

Cursor uses .mdc files with the same frontmatter format. Chops handles both automatically.

Key Features

Multi-Tool Support

Chops reads and writes skills for all major AI coding agents. Skills are deduplicated by resolved symlink path — symlinked files appear once with multiple tool badges.

Built-in Editor

• Monospaced NSTextView-based editor
• Cmd+S to save
• Frontmatter is parsed and displayed as structured metadata
• Changes are written directly to the source .md or .mdc file