Skip to content
All Skills

Scaffold Exercises

Create exercise directory structures with sections, problems, solutions, and explainers that pass linting. Use when user wants to scaffold exercises, create exercise stubs, or set up a new course section.

Education & Writing|v1|Updated 7/14/2026|GitHub source
MCP get_skill({ skillId: "scaffold-exercises-8238d0b1" })

Use this skill with your agent

Create a free account and connect via MCP

Get Started Free
# Scaffold Exercises

Create exercise directory structures that pass `pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint`, then commit with `git commit`.

## Directory naming

- **Sections**: `XX-section-name/` inside `exercises/` (e.g., `01-retrieval-skill-building`)
- **Exercises**: `XX.YY-exercise-name/` inside a section (e.g., `01.03-retrieval-with-bm25`)
- Section number = `XX`, exercise number = `XX.YY`
- Names are dash-case (lowercase, hyphens)

## Exercise variants

Each exercise needs at least one of these subfolders:

- `problem/` - student workspace with TODOs
- `solution/` - reference implementation
- `explainer/` - conceptual material, no TODOs

When stubbing, default to `explainer/` unless the plan specifies otherwise.

## Required files

Each subfolder (`problem/`, `solution/`, `explainer/`) needs a `readme.md` that:

- Is **not empty** (must have real content, even a single title line works)
- Has no broken links

When stubbing, create a minimal readme with a title and a description:

```md
# Exercise Title

Description here
```

If the subfolder has code, it also needs a `main.ts` (>1 line). But for stubs, a readme-only exercise is fine.

## Workflow

1. **Parse the plan** - extract section names, exercise names, and variant types
2. **Create directories** - `mkdir -p` for each path
3. **Create stub readmes** - one `readme.md` per variant folder with a title
4. **Run lint** - `pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint` to validate
5. **Fix any errors** - iterate until lint passes

## Lint rules summary

The linter (`pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint`) checks:

- Each exercise has subfolders (`problem/`, `solution/`, `explainer/`)
- At least one of `problem/`, `explainer/`, or `explainer.1/` exists
- `readme.md` exists and is non-empty in the primary subfolder
- No `.gitkeep` files
- No `speaker-notes.md` files
- No broken links in readmes
- No `pnpm run exercise` commands in readmes
- `main.ts` required per subfolder unless it's readme-only

## Moving/renaming exercises

When renumbering or moving exercises:

1. Use `git mv` (not `mv`) to rename directories - preserves git history
2. Update the numeric prefix to maintain order
3. Re-run lint after moves

Example:

```bash
git mv exercises/01-retrieval/01.03-embeddings exercises/01-retrieval/01.04-embeddings
```

## Example: stubbing from a plan

Given a plan like:

```
Section 05: Memory Skill Building
- 05.01 Introduction to Memory
- 05.02 Short-term Memory (explainer + problem + solution)
- 05.03 Long-term Memory
```

Create:

```bash
mkdir -p exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.01-introduction-to-memory/explainer
mkdir -p exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/{explainer,problem,solution}
mkdir -p exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.03-long-term-memory/explainer
```

Then create readme stubs:

```
exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.01-introduction-to-memory/explainer/readme.md -> "# Introduction to Memory"
exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/explainer/readme.md -> "# Short-term Memory"
exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/problem/readme.md -> "# Short-term Memory"
exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/solution/readme.md -> "# Short-term Memory"
exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.03-long-term-memory/explainer/readme.md -> "# Long-term Memory"
```
#broad-capability#typescript#engineering#writing#tutorialsgitpnpmai-hero-cli

Related Skills

More skills in Education & Writing

Academic Plotting

Generates publication-quality figures for ML papers from research context. Given a paper section or description, extracts system components and relationships to generate architecture diagrams via Gemini. Given experiment results or data, auto-selects chart type and generates data-driven figures via matplotlib/seaborn. Use when creating any figure for a conference paper.

#broad-capability#ai-researchMIT

Add Educational Comments

Add educational comments to the file specified, or prompt asking for file to comment if one is not provided.

#github-copilot#educationMIT

AI Prompt Engineering & Safety Best Practices

Comprehensive best practices for AI prompt engineering, safety frameworks, bias mitigation, and responsible AI usage for Copilot and LLMs.

#github-copilot#awesome-copilotMIT

Anti Slop

Comprehensive toolkit for detecting and eliminating "AI slop" - generic, low-quality AI-generated patterns in natural language, code, and design. Use when reviewing or improving content quality, preventing generic AI patterns, cleaning up existing content, or enforcing quality standards in writing, code, or design work.

#broad-capability#mathMIT

Apple Notes

Create, view, edit, delete, search, move, or export Apple Notes via the memo CLI on macOS.

#broad-capability#browserMIT

Asc Whats New Writer

Generate engaging, localized App Store release notes (What's New) from git log, bullet points, or free text using canonical metadata under `./metadata`. Optionally pairs with promotional text updates.

#rudrankriyam-app-store-connect#iosMIT