SkillForge Chrome Extension — The Complete User Guide

Welcome to SkillForge — your browser-based command center for AI mastery. With over 2,700 curated skills across 19 categories, SkillForge turns any AI tool into an extension of your expertise.

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1. What is SkillForge?

SkillForge is a Chrome extension (Manifest V3) that gives you instant access to a library of 2,700+ curated AI skills — right inside your browser. Instead of switching tabs to find prompts, copying text, and pasting into ChatGPT, you open your sidepanel, pick a skill, and inject it directly.

Key principles:

• Browse, don’t build. Every skill is pre-written, tested, and categorized. No prompt engineering required.
• Context-aware. SkillForge reads your current page (URL, title, selection, body) and weaves it into the prompt automatically.
• Tool-agnostic. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Cursor, AI Studio, and Kimi — 8 supported platforms out of the box, plus any custom AI tool you add.
• Private by design. All 2,700+ skills are bundled with the extension, and favorites, history, custom skills, and settings stay in chrome.storage.local. The only network request SkillForge makes is fetching the latest blog post from SynthOperator’s RSS feed.

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2. Installation

Getting started takes under 60 seconds.

From Chrome Web Store

Step	Action
1	Visit the SkillForge page on the Chrome Web Store
2	Click Add to Chrome
3	Review the permissions (storage, sidePanel, contextMenus, activeTab, scripting)
4	Click Add Extension
5	Click the extensions puzzle icon in your toolbar, find SkillForge, and click the pin icon

Keyboard Shortcut

Once installed, press Ctrl+Shift+S (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+S (Mac) to toggle the SkillForge sidepanel instantly.

You can change this shortcut at any time:

• Chrome → chrome://extensions/shortcuts
• Find “SkillForge” → edit the shortcut

First launch: SkillForge opens a short onboarding page automatically after installation. It walks you through the sidepanel, context gathering, and your first injection.

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3. Quick Start — Your First Skill

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+S → the SkillForge sidepanel opens on the right side of your browser.
2. Click a category (e.g., “Marketing & Ads”) → you’ll see all available skills in that category.
3. Click any skill → the detail overlay opens with the full prompt, context checkboxes (URL, Title, Selection, Content — all unchecked by default), and mode selector.
4. Click “Use Skill →” → choose your AI tool → the prompt is injected and ready to use.

That’s it. You just saved 15 minutes of prompt engineering.

Alternative: Send from any page

Right-click any page or selected text, then choose “SkillForge: Turn Any Web Context Into AI Action” in the context menu — the sidepanel opens, ready to use. The menu is available on every page.

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4. The Sidepanel Interface

The sidepanel is organized into five zones:

Zone	What it does
① Context Bar	4 status dots (URL, Title, Sel, Body) — green when data is available, red when empty, grey when unknown. Updates every 1.5s as you browse.
② Search + Create + Import	Real-time search across 2,700+ skills (300ms debounce). ✏ opens the Create overlay for new custom skills. + imports .md skill files from your computer.
③ Filter Pills	All — Every skill. Recent — Skills used in the last 7 days. Favorites — Your starred skills. Free — Only the free skills.
④ Category Grid	19 category cards arranged in a 2-column grid. Each card shows an SVG icon, category name, skill count, and a “free” badge when the category contains free skills.
⑤ Resources + Footer	Resources section with 4 links: Best Practices Guide, Blog & Updates, Blueprints, Contact. Footer links: All Skills catalog, SynthOperator homepage, About.

Additional dynamic components not shown in the simplified SVG above:

• Site Banner — Contextual promotions (shown after 3 skill uses, max 1/week)
• Blog Notification — Latest SynthOperator blog post, fetched from RSS, shown once until dismissed
• Resources Section — 4 links: Best Practices Guide, Blog & Updates, Blueprints, Contact
• Custom Skill Invite — Appears after 10 skill uses, linking to SynthOperator.com to order custom skills
• Free Skills Banner — At the top of the panel: how many of the 2,700+ skills are free to use. Premium (locked) skills show an unlock overlay with a link to the Claude AI Skills Pack v2 — buy the pack, then import the .md skill files (see §11).

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5. The Skill Detail Overlay

When you click any skill card, a detail overlay opens with everything you need:

Every skill detail screen includes:

• Title & Metadata — Skill name with category icon (one of 19 SVG icons), category label, and full description. A difficulty badge (beginner/intermediate/advanced) is shown on the skill card.
• ⭐ Favorite Toggle — SVG star icon. Click to add to Favorites for quick access later.
• Context Checkboxes — Choose what page context to include (all unchecked by default):
  • Page URL — unchecked by default
  • Page Title — unchecked by default
  • Selected Text — unchecked by default (dims grey if nothing is selected)
  • Page Content — unchecked by default (includes full page body up to 10,000 chars when checked)
• Additional Resources — Some skills include reference files, scripts, or templates. Check the ones you want to attach.
• Inject Mode — Toggle between Open AI (⌂ icon, injects directly into an AI tool) and Copy (⎘ icon, copies to clipboard). Each mode has its own SVG icon and color.
• Actions — “Use Skill →” to launch, ⬇ ZIP to download (generated in-browser via Service Worker CRC32), Delete (custom skills only).

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6. Using a Skill — The Full Injection Flow

Here’s exactly what happens when you click “Use Skill →”:

1. The Service Worker receives your request. It loads the skill content from local storage, gathers the context you selected from the current page (via context-gatherer.js), and assembles everything into a complete, ready-to-use prompt.

2. The AI Picker overlay opens — a grid of supported AI tools. Each card shows whether the tool already has an open tab in your browser.

3. You click your tool of choice. A new tab opens at your chosen AI tool’s URL. The Service Worker sends INJECT_PROMPT to injector.js — the content script running on that page.

4. Exponential backoff retry: The injection retries up to 6 times (delays of 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 15s, 15s) to account for the page still loading. Once injected, the prompt appears in the text field, fully assembled with your context included.

5. After a successful injection, a Share overlay appears — you can share your discovery on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), or Bluesky with one click.

If injection fails, a retry bar appears with three options: “Retry” (try the injection again), “Copy prompt” (copy to clipboard), or dismiss.

If you chose “Copy” mode: the prompt is copied directly to your clipboard with a green confirmation toast. Paste it anywhere.

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7. The AI Picker & Custom Targets

Eight AI tools come pre-configured:

AI Tool	URL Pattern	Base URL
Claude	https://claude.ai/*	https://claude.ai/
ChatGPT	https://chatgpt.com/*	https://chatgpt.com/
Gemini	https://gemini.google.com/*	https://gemini.google.com/
Perplexity	https://www.perplexity.ai/*	https://www.perplexity.ai/
DeepSeek	https://chat.deepseek.com/*	https://chat.deepseek.com/
Cursor	https://www.cursor.com/agents/*	https://www.cursor.com/agents
AI Studio	https://aistudio.google.com/*	https://aistudio.google.com/
Kimi	https://kimi.moonshot.cn/*	https://kimi.moonshot.cn/

Open tab detection: If you already have a tab open for one of these tools, a green “open” badge appears — the extension injects directly into the existing tab. Otherwise, a new tab is created.

Adding Custom AI Targets

1. Click ”+ Add” in the AI Picker.
2. Enter a name and URL pattern (e.g., https://chat.mistral.ai/*).
3. Optionally click ”↗ Use current tab” to auto-fill the name and URL from your active tab.
4. The tool appears in your AI Picker alongside the defaults — synced via chrome.storage.local.

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8. Prompt Variables

Skills and custom skills support template variables that are resolved at injection time. You can use them in any skill’s prompt content, or when creating your own skill in the Create overlay:

Variable	Resolves to
{{URL}}	Current page URL
{{TITLE}}	Current page title
{{SELECTION}}	Any text you’ve highlighted
{{CONTENT}}	Full page content (up to 10,000 chars)
{{DOMAIN}}	Domain name (e.g., github.com)
{{DATE}}	Today’s date in French format (e.g., 29/07/2026)
{{TIME}}	Current time in 24h format (e.g., 14:30)

A variable resolves only when its context data is checked in the detail overlay and available on the page — otherwise it resolves to an empty string. For example, {{SELECTION}} is empty when nothing is selected.

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9. Themes

SkillForge ships with 8 color themes that change the accent color (--color-accent) across the entire UI. Click the palette icon button in the header (next to the About ⓘ button) to cycle through themes:

Theme	Accent Color	Preview
Neon (default)	#c8ff00	Green-lime glow
Ocean	#60a5fa	Blue
Forest	#34d399	Emerald green
Fire	#fb923c	Orange
Violet	#a78bfa	Purple
Rose	#fb7185	Pink
Sunset	#facc15	Yellow
Ice	#67e8f9	Cyan

Your selected theme persists across sessions via chrome.storage.local.

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10. Favorites & History

SkillForge tracks your usage to help you work faster:

Feature	How it works
Favorites	Click the ⭐ star on any skill’s detail overlay. Filter by “Favorites” to see only your starred skills. Stored locally — never leaves your browser.
History	Every skill use is logged with the skill name and timestamp (up to 200 entries). The “Recent” filter shows skills used in the last 7 days.

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11. Importing Custom Skills

You can create and import your own skills from local .md files.

File Format

---
name: "My Custom Skill"
description: "What this skill does"
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## Instructions

Your skill content here...

Note: Only name and description are read from the frontmatter. Any other fields (difficulty, audience, keywords, etc.) are ignored, and a file without frontmatter is imported as “Untitled Skill”.

Import Steps

1. Click the + button next to the search bar.
2. Select your .md file from your computer.
3. The frontmatter is parsed, and the skill appears in the “Custom” category (always the last category).
4. Custom skills are editable and deletable — look for the “Delete” button in the detail overlay.

Going Pro: Import the Claude AI Skills Pack

The full SkillForge library (2,700+ skills) is available as the Claude AI Skills Pack v2 — a one-time purchase (no subscription) with lifetime updates. Premium skills are locked in the free version of SkillForge; buying the pack unlocks them:

1. Buy the pack at synthoperator.com/products/claude-ai-skills-pack-v2. Checkout is handled by Lemon Squeezy.
2. Download the ZIP — the Google Drive download link is delivered to your email within 60 seconds of purchase.
3. Extract the archive — you’ll find 18 department folders (Copywriting, SEO & Content, Software Engineering, etc.), each containing numbered SKILL.md files in the exact format SkillForge expects (name: and description: frontmatter).
4. Import them into SkillForge — click the + button and select the .md files (you can select several at once). Each skill lands in the “Custom” category, ready to use.

Tip: Import only the departments you actually need — the pack contains 3,000+ skills and importing everything can make the “Custom” category long. You can import more files at any time, or delete imported skills with the Delete button.

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12. Creating Custom Skills

Click the ✏ button next to the search bar to open the Create overlay. Fill out the form:

Field	Description
Name (required)	Title of your skill
Description	One-line summary
Category	Pick from all 19 categories or “Custom”
Difficulty	Beginner, Intermediate (default), or Advanced
Audience	All, Developers, Marketers, Executives, Designers, Analysts
Prompt Content (required)	The full prompt text. Supports {{URL}}, {{TITLE}}, {{SELECTION}}, {{CONTENT}}, {{DOMAIN}}, {{DATE}}, {{TIME}} variables.

Click Create Skill and it appears in your custom skills list immediately. All custom skills are stored locally in chrome.storage.local.

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13. Downloading Skills (ZIP Export)

Every skill can be downloaded as a ZIP archive containing:

• The full SKILL.md file
• All supporting files (references/, scripts/, templates/, images/ if present)

Click ⬇ ZIP in the skill detail overlay to download. The ZIP is generated entirely in your browser by the Service Worker using a hand-written CRC32 implementation — no data is sent to any server.

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14. Blog Notifications

When the sidepanel opens, SkillForge fetches the latest post from SynthOperator’s RSS feed. If there’s a new post you haven’t seen yet, a notification card appears at the top of the sidepanel with the post title and link.

• Dismiss it by clicking ✕ — it won’t reappear for that post.
• The Service Worker caches the blog feed and refreshes it every hour.

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15. Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Escape	Close any open overlay
Enter / Space	Select a skill, toggle a checkbox, or confirm action
Tab	Navigate between interactive elements

Power User Shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift)

These work when the skill list has focus:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+1 through Ctrl+Shift+9	Select skill by position in the list
Ctrl+Shift+↑ / ↓	Navigate between skill cards (outline focus)
Ctrl+Shift+Enter	When detail overlay is open, trigger “Use Skill →“
Ctrl+Shift+C	Copy current skill’s prompt directly to clipboard (skips AI Picker)

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16. Pro Tips

1. Use context selectively

You don’t always need full page context. All four context options (URL, Title, Selection, Content) are unchecked by default — check exactly what your task needs. For example, to analyze a paragraph, select it first and check only Selected Text (and maybe Page Title for context).

2. Combine skills with resources

Many skills include supplementary files (reference CSVs, template scripts). Check these in the detail overlay to attach them to your prompt — they become inline resources the AI can use immediately.

3. Use variables for one-off prompts

When creating a custom skill, use {{SELECTION}} inside the prompt content to reference whatever you’ve selected on the page. The variable resolves automatically at injection time.

4. Use Copy mode for drafts

If you’re not ready to inject directly, switch to Copy mode — the prompt lands in your clipboard with a green toast. Paste it anywhere, anytime.

5. Switch themes

Click the palette icon button in the header to cycle through 8 color themes. Your choice is saved automatically.

6. Keyboard navigation

Once you’ve used SkillForge for a few days, learn the Power User shortcuts. Ctrl+Shift+S → type a keyword → Ctrl+Shift+↓ to navigate → Ctrl+Shift+Enter to use — all without touching your mouse.

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17. Privacy & Data

Concern	How SkillForge handles it
Skill storage	All 2,700+ skills are bundled with the extension. Favorites, history, custom skills, custom AI targets, theme, and settings are stored locally in chrome.storage.local. No skill data is sent to any server.
Context gathering	The extension reads your page URL, title, text selection, and body content — only when you check the corresponding box and click “Use Skill” (or “Inject”). This data is used to build one prompt and is never stored or transmitted.
Network requests	SkillForge makes network requests in two situations only: (1) fetching the SynthOperator RSS feed (/rss.xml) to show blog notifications, (2) opening the AI platform tab (or copy/clipboard) when you use a skill. No analytics, no telemetry, no tracking servers.
External links	Links to SynthOperator.com use utm_* query parameters for analytics attribution — standard practice. These are regular hyperlinks, not tracking pixels.
Google API compliance	The extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Permission transparency	All permissions (storage, sidePanel, contextMenus, activeTab, scripting, plus optional clipboardWrite) are declared in the manifest and used strictly for the extension’s core functionality.
Right-click access	The “SkillForge: Turn Any Web Context Into AI Action” context menu item (on pages and selections) is used for one thing: opening the sidepanel.

Your data stays yours. SkillForge is designed with a local-first architecture. When you close the sidepanel, every byte of your browsing context stays exactly where it belongs — on your machine.

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SkillForge v2.1.0 — Manifest V3 — SynthOperator