setup

Get a new developer up and running with the Chops codebase — prerequisites, build, architecture, and common tasks.

1,182 stars

Best use case

setup is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.

Get a new developer up and running with the Chops codebase — prerequisites, build, architecture, and common tasks.

Teams using setup should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.

When to use this skill

  • You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.

When not to use this skill

  • You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
  • You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.

Installation

Claude Code / Cursor / Codex

$curl -o ~/.claude/skills/setup/SKILL.md --create-dirs "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Shpigford/chops/main/.claude/skills/setup/SKILL.md"

Manual Installation

  1. Download SKILL.md from GitHub
  2. Place it in .claude/skills/setup/SKILL.md inside your project
  3. Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill

How setup Compares

Feature / AgentsetupStandard Approach
Platform SupportNot specifiedLimited / Varies
Context Awareness High Baseline
Installation ComplexityUnknownN/A

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this skill do?

Get a new developer up and running with the Chops codebase — prerequisites, build, architecture, and common tasks.

Where can I find the source code?

You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.

Related Guides

SKILL.md Source

Set up the Chops development environment and orient a new contributor to the codebase.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Check prerequisites

Verify these are installed. If any are missing, tell the user what to install and stop.

1. **macOS 15+** — `sw_vers -productVersion` (must be ≥ 15.0)
2. **Xcode CLI tools** — `xcode-select -p` (if missing: `xcode-select --install`)
3. **Homebrew** — `which brew` (if missing: direct them to https://brew.sh)
4. **xcodegen** — `which xcodegen` (if missing: `brew install xcodegen`)

### Step 2: Generate Xcode project

```bash
xcodegen generate
```

This reads `project.yml` (the source of truth for all Xcode project settings) and generates `Chops.xcodeproj`. Re-run this anytime `project.yml` changes. Never edit the `.xcodeproj` directly.

### Step 3: Build and run

```bash
xcodebuild -scheme Chops -configuration Debug build
```

Or open in Xcode and hit Cmd+R:

```bash
open Chops.xcodeproj
```

### Step 4: Orient the developer

Share this architecture overview:

**Entry point:** `Chops/App/ChopsApp.swift` — sets up SwiftData ModelContainer (Skill + SkillCollection), starts Sparkle updater, injects AppState into environment.

**State:** `Chops/App/AppState.swift` — `@Observable` singleton holding UI state (selected tool, selected skill, search text, sidebar filter).

**Models (SwiftData):**
- `Chops/Models/Skill.swift` — a discovered skill file, uniquely identified by resolved symlink path
- `Chops/Models/Collection.swift` — user-created groupings of skills
- `Chops/Models/ToolSource.swift` — enum of supported tools with display names, icons, colors, and filesystem paths

**Services:**
- `Chops/Services/SkillScanner.swift` — probes tool directories, parses frontmatter, upserts into SwiftData. Deduplicates via resolved symlink paths.
- `Chops/Services/FileWatcher.swift` — FSEvents via DispatchSource, triggers re-scan on file changes
- `Chops/Services/SkillParser.swift` — dispatches to FrontmatterParser (.md) or MDCParser (.mdc)
- `Chops/Services/SearchService.swift` — in-memory full-text search

**Views:** Three-column NavigationSplitView (Sidebar → List → Detail). Editor wraps NSTextView for native text editing. Cmd+S save via FocusedValues.

**Key design decisions:**
- No sandbox — the app needs unrestricted filesystem access to read dotfiles across ~/
- Symlink dedup — same file in multiple tool dirs shows as one skill with multiple tool badges
- No test suite — validate manually by building, running, and observing

**Scanned tool paths:**

| Tool | Paths |
|------|-------|
| Claude Code | `~/.claude/skills/`, `~/.agents/skills` |
| Cursor | `~/.cursor/skills/`, `~/.cursor/rules` |
| Windsurf | `~/.codeium/windsurf/memories/`, `~/.windsurf/rules` |
| Codex | `~/.codex` |
| Amp | `~/.config/amp` |

Copilot and Aider detect project-level skills only (no global paths).

## Common tasks to be aware of

**Add a new tool:** Add a case to `ToolSource` enum in `Chops/Models/ToolSource.swift`. Fill in `displayName`, `iconName`, `color`, `globalPaths`. Update `SkillScanner` if the tool uses a non-standard file layout.

**Modify parsing:** Frontmatter → `Chops/Utilities/FrontmatterParser.swift`. Cursor .mdc → `Chops/Utilities/MDCParser.swift`. Dispatch logic → `Chops/Services/SkillParser.swift`.

**Change UI:** Views are in `Chops/Views/` (Sidebar/, Detail/, Settings/, Shared/). Main layout is `Chops/App/ContentView.swift`.

## Important Rules

- `project.yml` is the source of truth for Xcode settings — never edit `.xcodeproj` directly
- Sparkle (auto-updates) is the only external dependency — pulled automatically via SPM
- There is no test suite — always validate changes by building and running the app manually
- The app runs without sandbox — this is intentional and required

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