Rabbi Chaim Pinto HaGadol was born in Agadir, Morocco, on 15 Tammuz, the hillula of the Or HaChaim, around 1743 according to Hebrew tradition (1748 or 1749 according to other sources). The son of Rabbi Shlomo Pinto, he descended from Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, author of the Rif commentary on Ein Yaakov. His father died in 1755, and soon after a severe economic crisis struck Agadir: the family moved to Mogador (Essaouira), where he lived the rest of his life.

His relative Rabbi Meir Pinto enrolled him in the yeshiva of Rabbi Yaakov Bibas, the community's rabbi, where he proved a prodigy. When his teacher died in 1769 he was appointed, despite his youth, rabbi of Mogador together with the kabbalist Rabbi David Chazan. He founded the city's first rabbinical court and headed a yeshiva, where Rabbi David Zaguri was among his students. His firmness in halacha earned him the name "Abir Lev", yet he was attentive to his community's needs and to the poor of his city. He composed piyyutim and works of halacha, Kabbalah and aggadah, which were lost during a war that struck Essaouira.

He was known for his great holiness, his generosity to the poor and the many miracles tradition attributes to him. He is the patriarch of the famous Pinto dynasty. He passed away on 26 Elul 5605 (1845). His hillula draws thousands every year to his tomb in Essaouira's old Jewish cemetery; his house, which was also his synagogue, is preserved as a historic site.