ames-claude

Personal plugin marketplace for Claude Code, with experimental Codex support

5 plugins • 46 skills • 13 MCP servers • dual-host

A single repo that ships Oliver Ames' personal plugin catalog to two AI coding agents at once: Claude Code (official, supported) and Codex (experimental). The same plugin tree carries both manifest formats side by side, so one git push updates both hosts.

Why this exists

Running two agents without duplicating content is a real problem. Claude Code and Codex both adopted a plugin/skill model in early 2026, but they publish incompatible marketplace manifests at different paths (.claude-plugin/ vs .agents/plugins/) and different schemas. Most marketplaces ship only one. That forces users to either pick an agent or maintain parallel forks.

ames-claude takes the additive route. One tree, two manifest namespaces, identical skill and MCP content underneath. Skills are portable by spec (the SKILL.md format is shared across hosts per Anthropic's Agent Skills and OpenAI's Codex Skills). Only the plugin and marketplace manifests differ, and both sit in the same repo. The cost is a small amount of duplicated JSON; the benefit is a single source of truth for an otherwise split ecosystem.

Claude Code support is production. Codex support is experimental, since Codex's plugin marketplace launched March 2026 and its CLI surface is still stabilizing.

Quick start

Claude Code (official, supported)

Declarative install. Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "extraKnownMarketplaces": {
    "ames-claude": {
      "source": { "source": "github", "repo": "oliverames/ames-claude" },
      "autoUpdate": true
    },
    "ames-connectors": {
      "source": { "source": "github", "repo": "oliverames/ames-connectors" },
      "autoUpdate": true
    }
  },
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "ames-standalone-skills@ames-claude": true,
    "ames-preferred-mcps@ames-claude": true,
    "ames-ynab@ames-connectors": true,
    "ames-community-skills@ames-claude": true,
    "build-ios-apps-codex@ames-claude": true,
    "build-macos-apps-codex@ames-claude": true
  }
}

Restart Claude Code. The marketplace registers, plugins install, and autoUpdate keeps them current on each launch.

Interactive install. Or run:

/plugin marketplace add oliverames/ames-claude
/plugin marketplace add oliverames/ames-connectors
/plugin install ames-standalone-skills@ames-claude
/plugin install ames-preferred-mcps@ames-claude
/plugin install ames-ynab@ames-connectors
/plugin install ames-community-skills@ames-claude
/plugin install build-ios-apps-codex@ames-claude
/plugin install build-macos-apps-codex@ames-claude

Codex (experimental)

codex marketplace add https://github.com/oliverames/ames-claude

Then install plugins through Codex's plugin UI or CLI. build-ios-apps-codex and build-macos-apps-codex are intentionally absent from the Codex side (see below).

Heads-up: Codex's marketplace commands are still stabilizing. Verify exact syntax with codex --help before scripting. File an issue if any Codex manifest in this repo falls out of spec.

Plugins

Five plugins ship in this marketplace:

Custom first-party MCP connectors moved to ames-connectors, which now owns ames-ynab and ames-lytho.

Plugin	Hosts	Version	Summary
`ames-standalone-skills`	Claude + Codex	3.5.3	Oliver's original skill pack (29 skills)
`ames-preferred-mcps`	Claude + Codex	2.0.2	13 curated third-party MCP servers
`ames-community-skills`	Claude + Codex	2.0.1	Third-party skills without upstream marketplaces
`build-ios-apps-codex`	Claude only	1.0.1	6 iOS dev skills converted from OpenAI's Codex plugin
`build-macos-apps-codex`	Claude only	1.0.1	11 macOS dev skills + 3 commands converted from OpenAI's Codex plugin

`ames-standalone-skills`

Oliver's original Claude Code skills covering writing, development, automation, finance, and Apple platform work. 28 skills organized by theme (see Skills catalog).

`ames-preferred-mcps`

A single plugin that activates 13 curated third-party MCP servers:

MCP	Purpose
`apple-docs`	Apple Developer documentation search and WWDC lookup
`apple-notifier`	Native macOS notifications, speech, screen capture
`drafts`	Drafts.app integration for note capture
`excel`	Excel workbook manipulation
`google-workspace`	Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Tasks, Meet
`iMCP`	Apple event bridge (calendars, reminders)
`macos-automator`	AppleScript and JXA via osascript
`markitdown`	Convert files to Markdown
`pandoc`	Universal document conversion
`peekaboo`	macOS UI automation and screen capture
`SimGenie`	iOS Simulator helpers
`sosumi`	Apple documentation fetcher
`XcodeBuildMCP`	Xcode build/run/test for simulators and devices

Some servers depend on locally installed apps or additional credentials.

`ames-community-skills`

A wrapper for third-party skills that ship as bare SKILL.md files with no upstream marketplace of their own. Currently one skill:

humanizer — Remove signs of AI-generated writing from text. Originally by blader.

When an upstream author publishes their own marketplace (as twostraws did with SwiftUI Pro), that upstream is preferred and the skill leaves this plugin.

`build-ios-apps-codex`

Claude Code only. 6 iOS development skills converted from OpenAI's build-ios-apps Codex plugin (MIT): ios-app-intents, ios-debugger-agent, swiftui-liquid-glass, swiftui-performance-audit, swiftui-ui-patterns, swiftui-view-refactor. Each lives at plugins/build-ios-apps-codex/skills/<name>/. Run ./plugins/build-ios-apps-codex/update.sh to resync from the local Codex plugin cache.

`build-macos-apps-codex`

Claude Code only. 11 macOS development skills plus 3 commands converted from OpenAI's build-macos-apps Codex plugin (MIT): appkit-interop, build-run-debug, liquid-glass, packaging-notarization, signing-entitlements, swiftpm-macos, swiftui-patterns, telemetry, test-triage, view-refactor, window-management. Commands: build-and-run-macos-app, fix-codesign-error, test-macos-app. Run ./plugins/build-macos-apps-codex/update.sh to resync from the local Codex plugin cache.

Both plugins originated in openai/plugins and were adapted for Claude Code. They are omitted from the Codex marketplace manifest by design, since installing them in Codex would re-import already-diverged skills.

Skills catalog

28 skills in ames-standalone-skills, grouped by theme:

Writing and communications

oliver-tone — Apply Oliver's writing voice to drafts, emails, blog posts, announcements
draft-comms — Turn meeting notes, transcripts, or action lists into follow-up messages
readme-style — Apply Oliver's README conventions (used to author this very file)
resume-style — Ames-inspired resume typography and layout
obsidian-notes — Format Markdown notes to match Oliver's vault style

Apple platform and media

apple-music-rip — Download DRM-free Apple Music tracks
audible-library — Download and back up Audible audiobooks
apple-notes-formatting — Format content for Apple Notes
apple-workout-generator — Create .workout files for Apple Watch
macos-app-icons — Extract high-res app icons from .app bundles
smart-transcribe — Transcribe audio with cleanup and speaker attribution
generate-image — Generate and edit images via AI tools
create-shortcut — Build Apple Shortcuts via Jelly or raw plist
ios-capabilities — Reference for entitlements and Info.plist keys
testflight-deployment — Deploy iOS apps to TestFlight with CI/CD

Finance

ynab-finance — Household finance via YNAB (reviews, reconciliation, reporting)

BCBS VT (work-specific)

bcbs-vt — Context and guidance for BCBS VT work
bcbs-meeting-notes — Structure BCBS VT transcripts into notes with action items
bcbs-wrap-up — End-of-session wrap-up, verifies Jira-tracked action items

Workflow and tooling

go — End-to-end verify/simplify/ship pipeline, triggered by /go
wrap-up — Session wrap-up with state persistence
claude-code-headless — Interact with Claude Code from other contexts
cmux-workflows — Tooling for cmux workspaces
shared-terminal-tmux — Shared interactive terminal for user and agent
auto-web-search — Automatic web search when stuck on a problem
file-organization — Oliver's file naming and organization conventions

Context and integrations

1password-vault — Store, retrieve, and rotate credentials in 1Password
gmcf-masters-swim — Daily GMCF masters swim workout lookup

Plus 6 skills in build-ios-apps-codex, 11 skills (+ 3 commands) in build-macos-apps-codex, and 1 in ames-community-skills (humanizer).

MCP servers catalog

13 MCP servers in ames-preferred-mcps:

Plugin	Server	Package
`ames-preferred-mcps`	13 third-party servers	See plugin table above

Architecture

The repo carries two parallel manifest namespaces under a shared plugin tree:

ames-claude/
├── .claude-plugin/marketplace.json        # Claude Code marketplace (authoritative)
├── .agents/plugins/marketplace.json       # Codex marketplace (experimental)
└── plugins/
    └── <plugin-name>/
        ├── .claude-plugin/plugin.json     # Claude Code plugin manifest
        ├── .codex-plugin/plugin.json      # Codex plugin manifest (if applicable)
        ├── .mcp.json                      # MCP server config (portable across hosts)
        └── skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md   # Skill files (portable across hosts)

Host	Marketplace manifest	Per-plugin manifest	Plugins
Claude Code	`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`	`.claude-plugin/plugin.json`	5
Codex (experimental)	`.agents/plugins/marketplace.json`	`.codex-plugin/plugin.json`	3 (excludes `build-ios-apps-codex`, `build-macos-apps-codex`, and first-party connectors now in `ames-connectors`)

What crosses the boundary

Skill content (SKILL.md and bundled resources) is portable by spec
MCP configs (.mcp.json) use the same shape on both hosts
Plugin content structurally matches on both sides

What does not

Plugin and marketplace manifests differ in location and schema; they live side by side in the same repo
build-ios-apps-codex and build-macos-apps-codex are Claude Code only by design (converted-from-Codex skills can't round-trip cleanly, since they already exist upstream in openai/plugins)
Third-party marketplaces that publish only one manifest format can't be rewrapped by ames-claude. Install those from upstream wherever the author supports

Configuration

Per-plugin environment requirements:

Plugin	Variable	Required	Purpose
`ames-preferred-mcps`	varies	varies	Some servers require their own credentials or apps

Credentials are never stored in the repo. MCPs reference environment variables at runtime, with secrets resolved from the user's local configuration.

Versioning

Each plugin's version lives in three places that must stay in sync:

plugins/<name>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json — Claude-side authoritative
plugins/<name>/.codex-plugin/plugin.json — Codex mirror (must match 1)
Root .claude-plugin/marketplace.json — per-plugin version (must match 1)

The marketplace itself has a separate version at .claude-plugin/marketplace.json's top-level metadata.version, currently 3.5.0.

Workflow scripts at the repo root (sync, bump-and-sync) help keep these aligned after content changes. ./sync propagates version from .claude-plugin/plugin.json into the matching .codex-plugin/plugin.json, and threads the enriched metadata fields (author, homepage, repository, license, keywords, category) from each plugin manifest into the generated marketplace entry, so .claude-plugin/plugin.json stays the single source of truth for metadata. Always run one of those before committing version-bearing changes.

Development

Adding a new skill

Create plugins/ames-standalone-skills/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description)
Add supporting files (references, scripts) in subdirectories as needed
Run bump-and-sync from the repo root
Commit and push; Claude Code users with autoUpdate pick it up on next launch

Adding a new plugin

Create plugins/<plugin-name>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json with name, version, description, author
For dual-host support, also create plugins/<plugin-name>/.codex-plugin/plugin.json mirroring the Claude manifest with Codex-specific interface and category fields
Add the plugin entry to both .claude-plugin/marketplace.json and .agents/plugins/marketplace.json
Add content (skills, commands, MCPs) at the plugin root per spec
Run bump-and-sync and commit

My Claude Code configuration

A complete snapshot of ~/.claude/settings.json, documented here so this repo doubles as a rebuilding reference. Kept in sync by the wrap-up skill: any session that changes ~/.claude/settings.json or installs or removes a plugin also updates the tables below and commits the result. If this machine died tomorrow, these tables plus a fresh ~/.claude/settings.json would reconstruct the environment.

Installed marketplaces (16 total)

15 marketplaces declared in extraKnownMarketplaces (all with autoUpdate: true), plus claude-plugins-official as the built-in default.

Marketplace	Source	Why it's installed
`claude-plugins-official`	`anthropics/claude-plugins-official`	Built-in default. Anthropic's official curated plugin directory
`ames-claude`	`oliverames/ames-claude`	This repo. Oliver's personal skill and workflow marketplace
`ames-connectors`	`oliverames/ames-connectors`	Oliver's first-party MCP connector marketplace
`claude-community`	`anthropics/claude-plugins-community`	Anthropic-stewarded community plugins
`anthropic-agent-skills`	`anthropics/skills`	Anthropic's open-source Agent Skills (Claude API, document skills)
`knowledge-work-plugins`	`anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins`	Anthropic's knowledge-work plugins (PDF viewer, SEO, ads)
`apple-notes-mcp`	`sweetrb/apple-notes-mcp`	Apple Notes MCP integration
`axiom-marketplace`	`CharlesWiltgen/Axiom`	Axiom plugin marketplace (registered but no plugins enabled)
`claudeskillz`	`tsilva/claudeskillz`	Output stylers and README authoring skills
`addy-agent-skills`	`addyosmani/agent-skills`	Addy Osmani's curated agent skills
`claude-code-workflows`	`wshobson/agents`	Workflow-oriented agent pack (registered but no plugins enabled)
`claude-code-plugins-plus`	`jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins`	Additional community plugins (registered but no plugins enabled)
`skill-codex`	`skills-directory/skill-codex`	Codex CLI interop skill
`a5c.ai`	`a5c-ai/babysitter`	Babysitter workflow orchestration
`karpathy-skills`	`forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills`	Karpathy-inspired coding guidelines
`swiftui-agent-skill`	`twostraws/SwiftUI-Agent-Skill`	Paul Hudson's SwiftUI Pro (replaced previously vendored copy)

Enabled plugins (43 total)

Grouped by source marketplace. Each plugin@marketplace key in enabledPlugins is listed below with its purpose.

claude-plugins-official (24 plugins):

Plugin	Purpose
`frontend-design`	Production-quality UI component generation
`superpowers`	Core skill framework (brainstorming, debugging, TDD, code review, git worktrees, etc.)
`context7`	Real-time library documentation lookup
`github`	GitHub issue, PR, and release management
`feature-dev`	Guided feature development workflow
`playwright`	Browser automation via Playwright
`skill-creator`	Scaffold and validate new Agent Skills
`ralph-loop`	Loop-based iterative workflow
`claude-md-management`	Audit and maintain `CLAUDE.md` files
`typescript-lsp`	TypeScript language server
`security-guidance`	Security review and hardening prompts
`commit-commands`	Conventional git commit workflow
`claude-code-setup`	Recommend Claude Code automations for a codebase
`pyright-lsp`	Python language server
`explanatory-output-style`	Sets the "Explanatory" output style
`plugin-dev`	Plugin scaffolding and development tools
`learning-output-style`	Learning-oriented output style option
`chrome-devtools-mcp`	Chrome DevTools Protocol integration
`firecrawl`	Web search, scraping, and skill generation from URLs
`swift-lsp`	Swift language server
`remember`	Session state persistence
`imessage`	iMessage send/receive integration
`mcp-server-dev`	Build MCP servers and apps
`gopls-lsp`	Go language server

ames-claude (3 of 5 available enabled): ames-standalone-skills, ames-preferred-mcps, ames-community-skills. The remaining two plugins (build-ios-apps-codex, build-macos-apps-codex) are published in the marketplace but not currently enabled at the user level. The next wrap-up session will reconcile ~/.claude/settings.json against the marketplace and may enable/disable plugins accordingly.

ames-connectors (1 of 2 available enabled): ames-ynab. ames-lytho is available in the connector marketplace but not currently enabled at the user level.

knowledge-work-plugins (3): adspirer-ads-agent (ad campaign analytics), pdf-viewer (interactive PDF), searchfit-seo (SEO audits and content strategy)

claudeskillz (4): bash-output-styler, python-output-styler, project-readme-author, project-spec-extractor

anthropic-agent-skills (1): document-skills (pptx, docx, xlsx, pdf, frontend-design, mcp-builder)

apple-notes-mcp (1): apple-notes — Apple Notes MCP addy-agent-skills (1): agent-skills — Addy Osmani's agent skills pack skill-codex (1): skill-codex — Codex CLI interop for code analysis and refactoring a5c.ai (1): babysitter — Workflow orchestration via @babysitter karpathy-skills (1): andrej-karpathy-skills — Anti-overengineering coding guidelines swiftui-agent-skill (1): swiftui-pro — Paul Hudson's SwiftUI review skill

Environment variables

Defined in env block of ~/.claude/settings.json and at session launch. OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN is intentionally omitted from this record.

Claude Code runtime:

Variable	Value	Why
`CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS`	`1`	Opt into experimental agent teams feature for multi-agent workflows
`ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH`	`1`	Enable deferred-tool search via the `ToolSearch` tool, keeping the initial tool list short
`CLAUDE_AUTOCOMPACT_PCT_OVERRIDE`	`85`	Auto-compact context at 85% of window rather than the default 95%, for more headroom before compression
`CLAUDE_CODE_NO_FLICKER`	`1`	Suppress terminal redraw flicker during streaming output
`BASH_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH`	`200000`	Raise the Bash output truncation limit to 200KB for long-running commands (tests, builds)

Plugin credentials (set in shell, not in settings.json):

Connector-specific credentials now live with ames-connectors. Other plugin-specific credentials (for servers in ames-preferred-mcps and some third-party plugins) are resolved at runtime through local configuration rather than stored in the repo.

Permissions

permissions.defaultMode is auto (auto-allow tools on the allowlist without prompting). The allowlist covers core file I/O, search, language tooling, skills, agents, and teamwork primitives so those never interrupt flow:

Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep, NotebookEdit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList, TaskGet, TaskStop, LSP, Agent, Skill, ToolSearch, ListMcpResourcesTool, ReadMcpResourceTool, EnterWorktree, TeamCreate, TeamDelete, SendMessage

deny is empty. Tools outside the allowlist still require explicit approval. Two additional flags suppress specific prompts: skipAutoPermissionPrompt: true (no repeated prompts for the same tool) and skipDangerousModePermissionPrompt: true (no warning when entering dangerous mode).

Hooks

Two PostToolUse hooks, both in hooks.PostToolUse:

Matcher	Command	Effect
`Bash`	Python one-liner that checks if the bash command contained `git commit`, and if so prints `✅ Committed` and the latest commit summary	Lightweight confirmation that a commit actually landed, useful during multi-commit sessions
`Edit\|Write`	`bash ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Developer/Scripts/validate-skill`	Runs the `validate-skill` shell script after any file edit or write, to catch skill authoring errors (malformed frontmatter, broken references) at write time

Status line

statusLine.command runs bash ~/.claude/statusline-command.sh, which renders a custom status line.

UI and agent behavior

Setting	Value	Why
`model`	`sonnet`	Main-thread model. The `sonnet` family alias auto-resolves to the latest Sonnet (currently 4.6); keeps me on the best cost-per-capability tier without manual migration when a new Sonnet ships
`advisorModel`	`opus`	Family alias for the `advisor` tool; auto-resolves to the latest Opus (currently 4.7). The advisor's job is to be the stronger reviewer, so it stays on Opus even when the main thread is Sonnet
`outputStyle`	`Explanatory`	Default to the explanatory style, which surfaces educational insights alongside changes. Useful when the point of a session is learning as much as shipping
`alwaysThinkingEnabled`	`true`	Extended thinking on for every turn, not just complex ones. Modern Claude models use the thinking budget adaptively, so leaving it on is almost free on easy turns
`effortLevel`	`medium`	Balanced tier. Applies to both main-thread and advisor calls (there is no separate advisor effort key). Lower tiers ship faster; higher tiers burn more tokens verifying. Medium is the default compromise
`autoDreamEnabled`	`true`	Background reflection between turns (experimental)
`teammateMode`	`auto`	Auto-spawn teammate agents when the workflow obviously benefits from parallelism
`viewMode`	`focus`	Focused UI mode: hide non-essential chrome
`voiceEnabled`	`true`	Voice I/O on for spoken prompts and replies
`remoteControlAtStartup`	`true`	Accept remote-control connections from other clients at launch

Miscellaneous

Setting	Value	Why
`cleanupPeriodDays`	`45`	Keep conversation history for 45 days instead of the default, since some projects span weeks
`autoUpdatesChannel`	`latest`	Track the bleeding-edge Claude Code release channel
`feedbackSurveyRate`	`0`	Disable in-product feedback surveys
`enableAllProjectMcpServers`	`true`	Project-level MCP servers from `.mcp.json` load automatically without per-project opt-in

Keeping this section current

The wrap-up skill runs a config-drift check at end of session. If any of these change during a session, the wrap-up flow updates this section and commits the change:

New plugin enabled or disabled in ~/.claude/settings.json
New marketplace added to extraKnownMarketplaces
New env variable added to env
Any top-level settings value changes
Any hook added, removed, or modified

This is what makes the configuration record trustworthy: it doesn't go stale because the wrap-up ritual won't let it.

Thing	Role
`oliverames/dotfiles`	Shell config, install script, system-wide hooks
`oliverames/scripts`	CLI tools including sync utilities
`oliverames/claude-code-backup`	Mirror of `~/.claude/` with secrets redacted
openai/plugins	Upstream for `build-ios-apps-codex` and `build-macos-apps-codex` converted skills
twostraws/SwiftUI-Agent-Skill	Recommended companion marketplace for SwiftUI Pro
blader/humanizer	Upstream for `humanizer` in `ames-community-skills`

_{Built by Oliver Ames in Vermont
• GitHub
• LinkedIn
• Bluesky}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 58 Commits
.a5c/cache/compression		.a5c/cache/compression
.agents/plugins		.agents/plugins
.claude-plugin		.claude-plugin
.claude		.claude
plugins		plugins
.gitignore		.gitignore
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
README.md		README.md
WORKLOG.md		WORKLOG.md
bump-and-sync		bump-and-sync
style.sh		style.sh
sync		sync

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ames-claude

Why this exists

Quick start

Claude Code (official, supported)

Codex (experimental)

Plugins

ames-standalone-skills

ames-preferred-mcps

ames-community-skills

build-ios-apps-codex

build-macos-apps-codex

Skills catalog

MCP servers catalog

Architecture

What crosses the boundary

What does not

Configuration

Versioning

Development

Adding a new skill

Adding a new plugin

My Claude Code configuration

Installed marketplaces (16 total)

Enabled plugins (43 total)

Environment variables

Permissions

Hooks

Status line

UI and agent behavior

Miscellaneous

Keeping this section current

Related

About

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Releases 1

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`ames-standalone-skills`

`ames-preferred-mcps`

`ames-community-skills`

`build-ios-apps-codex`

`build-macos-apps-codex`

Packages