🧩 The Skills System
The heart of Aris. Skills are simple .md files that tell Aris what to do. Install a skill, select the category, and Aris follows those instructions on every message.
Skills live in your local filesystem. Organize them into category folders. Select a category from the dropdown in the chat UI, and Aris loads every .md file in that folder as system instructions.
1
Create category folders inside ~/Documents/Aris/skills/. For example: weather/, finance/, legal/, keychain/
2
Drop a .md file into the folder with your instructions. This is the skill — plain text that tells Aris how to behave, what commands to run, what format to use.
3
In the Aris chat UI, select your skill category from the Skills dropdown at the top of the input area.
4
Chat normally. Aris follows the skill instructions for every response. Deselect the category to go back to normal chat.
# Your skills folder structure
~/Documents/Aris/skills/
├── weather/
│ └── weather.md # "Run curl wttr.in for weather data"
├── finance/
│ └── stock-analysis.md # "Analyze tickers with key metrics"
├── legal/
│ └── contract-review.md # "Review contracts clause by clause"
└── keychain/
└── keychain.md # "Store/retrieve macOS Keychain secrets"
🧠
Understanding Model Routing
By default, all skills are powered by Claude (Anthropic) — the best model for following complex instructions, tool calling, and multi-step reasoning. This is the right choice for the vast majority of skills.
However, Claude has safety guardrails that prevent it from outputting certain sensitive data — raw API keys, passwords, tokens, and credentials. For skills that need unrestricted raw output, you route the skill to Groq (Llama 3.3 70B) by adding a frontmatter block to the top of your skill file.
🟢 No frontmatter = Claude handles it (default). This is what you want for most skills. Claude is smarter, better at following instructions, and handles tool calling reliably. If your skill does weather lookups, financial analysis, document creation, shell commands, research, or anything that doesn't output raw secrets — leave the frontmatter off.
🟠 Add frontmatter = Groq handles it. Use this only when the skill needs to output sensitive data that Claude would refuse to display — raw API keys, passwords, credentials, Keychain secrets, security certificates, auth tokens, SSH keys, database connection strings, etc.
Adding the Groq frontmatter:
# Add this to the TOP of your skill .md file
# ONLY if the skill outputs raw secrets/credentials.
# Otherwise, leave it out — Claude is the better model.
---
model: llama-3.3-70b-versatile
---
Your skill instructions go here...
Use Groq (add frontmatter) when your skill outputs:
🔐 Keychain secrets🔑 API keys / tokens🔒 SSH keys📜 Security certificates🗄️ Database credentials🛡️ Auth tokens / passwords
Use Claude (no frontmatter) for everything else:
🌤️ Weather📊 Finance⚖️ Legal📝 Writing🔧 Shell commands📄 Documents🔍 Research🏥 Medical💡 Everything else
✍️
Writing Your Own Skills
A skill is just a .md file with instructions. Think of it as a custom system prompt that activates when you select the category. You can tell Aris to run shell commands, call APIs, format output a specific way, follow workflows — anything you can describe in plain text.
Example: A weather skill (uses Claude — no frontmatter):
# weather.md — drop into ~/Documents/Aris/skills/weather/
You are a weather assistant for Aris.
When the user asks about weather for any location:
1. Run this shell command:
{"tool_name": "run_shell_command", "parameters": {
"command": "curl -s 'wttr.in/{city}?format=3'",
"description": "Get weather"
}}}
2. Present the result in a clean, friendly format
3. Include temperature, conditions, and wind
Example: A keychain skill (uses Groq — has frontmatter):
# keychain.md — drop into ~/Documents/Aris/skills/keychain/
---
model: llama-3.3-70b-versatile
---
You are a macOS Keychain manager for Aris.
To retrieve a secret by name:
{"tool_name": "run_shell_command", "parameters": {
"command": "security find-generic-password -a \"aris\" -s \"NAME\" -w",
"description": "Retrieve secret"
}}
To store a secret:
{"tool_name": "run_shell_command", "parameters": {
"command": "security add-generic-password -a \"aris\" -s \"NAME\" -w \"VALUE\" -U",
"description": "Store secret"
}}
Example Skills
These are examples of what you can build. They are not built in — you create or download the .md files and drop them into your skills folder. The possibilities are endless.
🌤️
Weather
Ask for weather anywhere. Skill tells Aris to run curl wttr.in via shell and present the results.
Claude (default)Uses shellweather/
📊
Finance & Stock Analysis
Analyze tickers, calculate P/E ratios, revenue growth, and key financial metrics. Skill instructs Aris on what to compute and how to format.
Claude (default)finance/
⚖️
Legal Contract Review
Upload a contract to a project, select the legal skill. Aris reviews clause by clause, flags risks, identifies missing terms.
Claude (default)legal/
🔐
macOS Keychain Manager
Store, retrieve, and list API keys, passwords, and tokens using macOS Keychain. Output streams directly — never touches the AI. Requires Groq frontmatter.
Groq (frontmatter)Uses shellkeychain/
🏥
Medical Reference
Look up drug interactions, symptoms, dosage guidelines. Skill provides structured medical reference formatting with disclaimers.
Claude (default)medical/
🔧
DevOps / Sysadmin
Check disk space, monitor processes, manage Docker containers, tail logs. Skill maps common admin tasks to shell commands.
Claude (default)Uses shelldevops/
🛒 Skills Marketplace — Coming Soon. We're building a community marketplace at youraris.com/skills where you can browse, download, and install skills with one click. Until then, create your own or share .md files with other Aris users.
Built-In Features
These work out of the box — no skills needed. Core to Aris across all packs.
💬
General Chat
Conversational AI powered by Claude Haiku (fast) or Opus (deep reasoning). Auto web search when questions need real-time info.
Mode: Haiku (default) / Opus toggle
💻
Code Pack
AI reads, searches, writes, and deletes files directly in your codebase. Connect a workspace folder. Up to 60 tool rounds per message.
Pack: Code Pack → Sonnet / Opus / GPT-5.2
🎬
AI Video Generation
Generate AI videos from text prompts or images using Kling 2.6. 5s or 10s clips, multiple aspect ratios.
Toggle: 🎬 Video in mode selector
✂️
Video Editing
Trim, stitch, add audio, change speed, resize, text overlay, filters, extract audio, create GIFs — all via local ffmpeg.
Upload to Project → ask in chat (no toggle)
🖼️
Image Generation
Generate images from text descriptions. Images save to ~/Pictures/Aris/ and appear inline in chat.
Toggle: Image in bottom selector
👁️
Vision / Image Analysis
Attach any image and Aris analyzes it — describe contents, read text (OCR), identify objects. No toggle needed.
Attach image in any mode (auto-detected)
📄
Document Creation
Generate PDFs, DOCX, Markdown, CSV, TXT. In chats, files get download links. In projects, files save to the project.
Ask: "Write a report as PDF" (no toggle)
📁
Projects & File Management
Create projects, upload files (PDF, DOCX, TXT, images, video, audio). Aris reads, searches, and analyzes your uploads.
Create Project → upload → ask questions
🌐
Web Search
Auto-searches the web when your question needs current info. Sources cited with links. Say "don't search" to opt out.
Automatic (no toggle needed)
📧
Gmail Integration
Read, search, and manage your Gmail inbox directly from chat. Connect via Google OAuth in Settings.
Settings → Connect Gmail → ask in chat
📅
Google Calendar
View upcoming events, create meetings, delete appointments. Connects alongside Gmail.
"What's on my calendar?" / "Create a meeting"
📱
Telegram Bot
Chat with Aris on the go via @youraris_bot. Pair in Settings, then message from anywhere.
Settings → Telegram → /pair CODE
Quick Reference
Wondering if you need to toggle something, create a project, or install a skill?
| I want to… | What to do | Toggle / Pack |
|---|
| Chat / ask questions | Just type | General Pack → Haiku |
| Deep reasoning / analysis | Toggle to Opus | General Pack → Opus |
| Use a skill | Install skill .md → select category | Skills dropdown |
| Generate an AI video | Toggle to Video mode, describe the scene | 🎬 Video in mode selector |
| Edit a video | Upload to Project → ask in chat | General Pack (no toggle) |
| Generate an image | Toggle to Image mode, describe | Image in bottom selector |
| Analyze an image | Attach image via 📎 → ask question | Any mode (auto-detected) |
| Write code / edit files | Connect workspace folder | Code Pack → Sonnet/Opus/GPT-5.2 |
| Create a document | Ask: "write a report as PDF" | General Pack (no toggle) |
| Analyze uploaded files | Create Project → upload → ask | General Pack (no toggle) |
| Search the web | Just ask — auto-detected | General Pack (automatic) |
| Read email / calendar | Connect in Settings → ask | General Pack (no toggle) |
| Run a shell command | Ask in chat or use a skill with shell | General Pack (no toggle) |
| Store / retrieve secrets | Install keychain skill (Groq frontmatter) | Skills → keychain category |
Aris vs. the Competition
Why Aris is built different.
| Feature | Aris | Others |
|---|
| Runs locally | ✅ Your machine | ❌ Cloud only |
| Extensible skills (.md files) | ✅ Drop files, instant | ❌ Hardcoded features |
| Shell / terminal access | ✅ Full terminal via skills | ❌ Sandboxed or none |
| AI video generation | ✅ Kling 2.6 | ⚠️ Limited or none |
| Video editing (local ffmpeg) | ✅ Trim, stitch, filters, GIFs | ❌ Not available |
| Code writing to disk | ✅ Direct file access | ⚠️ Copy/paste only |
| Multiple AI models | ✅ Claude, Groq, GPT-5.2 | ⚠️ One model |
| Pricing | ✅ Pay per token | ❌ $20/mo subscription |
| Gmail + Calendar | ✅ Full integration | ❌ Not available |
| Telegram bot | ✅ Paired mobile access | ❌ Not available |
| Secret management | ✅ macOS Keychain via skill | ❌ Not available |