Skills › Skills For Real Engineers › scaffold-exercises

scaffold-exercises

skill · 106 lines · MIT · skills/misc/scaffold-exercises/SKILL.md

The facts

Its description

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.

The description the agent reads to decide when to use it.

From its settingsline 3

When it starts

The agent would pick this skill when someone wants to lay out a course's exercise folders — creating section and exercise directories, stubbing readmes, or setting up a new section — rather than writing the exercise content itself.

Things a person might say (the model's guesses)

“Scaffold the exercises for section 05 on memory skill building”
“Create exercise stubs from this plan”
“Set up a new course section with explainer folders”

A model's summary of when it is used.

A model's reading

Licence

MIT, from LICENSE

The terms its author shares it under, which let it be shown here.

From the repositorylicence text

Other files in this skill (1) Close

agents/openai.yaml

The text

Open on GitHub

1---

2name: scaffold-exercises

3description: 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.

4---

6# Scaffold Exercises

8Create exercise directory structures that pass `pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint`, then commit with `git commit`.

Scaffold Exercises

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

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10## Directory naming

12- **Sections**: `XX-section-name/` inside `exercises/` (e.g., `01-retrieval-skill-building`)

13- **Exercises**: `XX.YY-exercise-name/` inside a section (e.g., `01.03-retrieval-with-bm25`)

14- Section number = `XX`, exercise number = `XX.YY`

15- Names are dash-case (lowercase, hyphens)

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)

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17## Exercise variants

19Each exercise needs at least one of these subfolders:

21- `problem/` - student workspace with TODOs

22- `solution/` - reference implementation

23- `explainer/` - conceptual material, no TODOs

25When stubbing, default to `explainer/` unless the plan specifies otherwise.

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.

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27## Required files

29Each subfolder (`problem/`, `solution/`, `explainer/`) needs a `readme.md` that:

31- Is **not empty** (must have real content, even a single title line works)

32- Has no broken links

34When stubbing, create a minimal readme with a title and a description:

36```md

37# Exercise Title

39Description here

40```

42If the subfolder has code, it also needs a `main.ts` (>1 line). But for stubs, a readme-only exercise is fine.

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:

# 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.

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44## Workflow

461. **Parse the plan** - extract section names, exercise names, and variant types

472. **Create directories** - `mkdir -p` for each path

483. **Create stub readmes** - one `readme.md` per variant folder with a title

494. **Run lint** - `pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint` to validate

505. **Fix any errors** - iterate until lint passes

Workflow

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

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52## Lint rules summary

54The linter (`pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint`) checks:

56- Each exercise has subfolders (`problem/`, `solution/`, `explainer/`)

57- At least one of `problem/`, `explainer/`, or `explainer.1/` exists

58- `readme.md` exists and is non-empty in the primary subfolder

59- No `.gitkeep` files

60- No `speaker-notes.md` files

61- No broken links in readmes

62- No `pnpm run exercise` commands in readmes

63- `main.ts` required per subfolder unless it's readme-only

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

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65## Moving/renaming exercises

67When renumbering or moving exercises:

691. Use `git mv` (not `mv`) to rename directories - preserves git history

702. Update the numeric prefix to maintain order

713. Re-run lint after moves

73Example:

75```bash

76git mv exercises/01-retrieval/01.03-embeddings exercises/01-retrieval/01.04-embeddings

77```

Moving/renaming exercises

When renumbering or moving exercises:

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

Example:

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

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79## Example: stubbing from a plan

81Given a plan like:

83```

84Section 05: Memory Skill Building

85- 05.01 Introduction to Memory

86- 05.02 Short-term Memory (explainer + problem + solution)

87- 05.03 Long-term Memory

88```

90Create:

92```bash

93mkdir -p exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.01-introduction-to-memory/explainer

94mkdir -p exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/{explainer,problem,solution}

95mkdir -p exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.03-long-term-memory/explainer

96```

98Then create readme stubs:

100```

101exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.01-introduction-to-memory/explainer/readme.md -> "# Introduction to Memory"

102exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/explainer/readme.md -> "# Short-term Memory"

103exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/problem/readme.md -> "# Short-term Memory"

104exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.02-short-term-memory/solution/readme.md -> "# Short-term Memory"

105exercises/05-memory-skill-building/05.03-long-term-memory/explainer/readme.md -> "# Long-term Memory"

106```

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:

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"

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From mattpocock/skills at 4ae2317, 2026-10-31. Skills read by DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on 2026-11-04. Summary and techniques by Claude Opus 5.5 on 2026-11-06.