# chops registry API

> Open registry for Agent Skills (SKILL.md folders). Everything below is plain unauthenticated
> HTTP at https://api.chops.sh — an LLM with curl can search, inspect, and install skills with
> nothing installed. Slugs look like owner/repo@skill.

## Find skills

Search by intent (hybrid semantic + keyword ranking, top results first):

    curl "https://api.chops.sh/skills/search?q=optimize+postgres+queries&limit=5"

Returns { query, results: [{ slug, description, publisher: { owner, repo }, agents, stars,
installs, last_published_at, pinned_sha, install_cmd, score }] }.

Optional filters: &owner=<github-owner>, &agent=<claude-code|codex|cursor|copilot|gemini|amp|opencode>.

Browse the whole index instead of searching:

    curl "https://api.chops.sh/skills?sort=popular&limit=24&offset=0"   # or sort=recent

Returns { total, sort, results } with the same result shape (no score). Page with offset.

## Inspect a skill before installing

    curl "https://api.chops.sh/manifest?slug=anthropics/skills@algorithmic-art"

Returns { skill: { slug, name, description }, version: { id, content_sha }, tarball_url,
sha256, size_bytes }. content_sha pins the exact source; sha256 is the package digest.

## Install with curl only (no CLI)

1. Get the manifest (above) and note tarball_url and sha256.
2. Download:   curl -L -o skill.tgz "<tarball_url>"
3. Verify:     shasum -a 256 skill.tgz   # must equal the manifest sha256; discard on mismatch
4. Unpack into the vendor-neutral skills directory (or your agent's own):

       mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills/<skill-name>
       tar -xzf skill.tgz -C ~/.agents/skills/<skill-name>

Agent-specific directories: ~/.claude/skills (Claude Code), ~/.cursor/skills (Cursor).
Tarballs are immutable and content-addressed by sha256; a given URL never changes.

## Accounts, teams, and private skills (authenticated)

Sign in without leaving the terminal (passwordless email code):

    npx chops-sh auth start you@company.com
    npx chops-sh auth verify <6-digit code>

Then: create a team, invite teammates by email, and share private skills that are encrypted
at rest and visible only to you or your team:

    npx chops-sh team create yourteam
    npx chops-sh team invite dana@company.com --team yourteam
    npx chops-sh publish ./skills/deploy --team yourteam   # or omit --team for private-to-me
    npx chops-sh add @yourteam/deploy                       # teammates; @me/<name> for personal

Raw HTTP equivalents (Authorization: Bearer <access_jwt> from /auth/otp/verify):
POST /teams {slug} · GET /me/teams · POST /teams/<slug>/invites {emails[]} ·
POST /invites/accept {token} · GET /me/skills · GET /teams/<slug>/skills ·
GET /me/skills/<name>/manifest → GET /private/tarballs/<version_id>.

## Prefer a CLI?

npx chops-sh find "<task>" --json  /  npx chops-sh add <slug> --yes --json (npm package
chops-sh). Full docs: https://chops.sh/docs.md · Web: https://chops.sh