lessons

name: lessons description: Guide users through progressive lessons to learn AI assistant basics allowed-tools: ["Read", "Write", "Bash"]

Sourdough Lessons

Progressive lessons that teach users how to work with AI assistants by actually using the system.

Purpose

Enable users to learn AI augmentation through hands-on experience, not just reading documentation. Lessons build on each other and teach core concepts through practical exercises.

When to Use

Automatic invocation:

• When user says "start lessons", "teach me", "show me lessons", "lesson 1", etc.
• When user asks "what can I learn?" or "how do I get started?"

Progressive invocation:

• After completing a lesson, suggest the next lesson
• Track progress in user's data layer

Available Lessons

Lessons are stored in skills/lessons/content/ and numbered for progressive learning:

1. Welcome & First Conversation - Basics of talking with AI
2. Reading Files - How AI can read and understand files
3. Creating Files - Having AI write files for you
4. Editing Files - Modifying existing files safely
5. Understanding Context - How AI remembers and uses context
6. Running Commands - Using bash/PowerShell through AI
7. Troubleshooting Together - Collaborative problem-solving
8. Risk & Responsibility - Understanding file access implications
9. Skills System - Using and creating skills
10. Session Logging - Tracking your work over time
11. Learning Framework - How AI learns your preferences
12. Working with Projects - Managing multiple efforts
13. Best Practices - Patterns that work well
14. Next Steps - Where to go from here

Process

1. Determine Intent

Check what the user wants:

• Start from beginning? → Lesson 1
• Specific lesson number? → Load that lesson
• Continue where they left off? → Check progress file
• List available lessons? → Show lesson menu

2. Load Progress (if exists)

Check for progress tracking file:

PROGRESS_FILE="${SOURDOUGH_DATA:-$HOME/ai-data}/learning/lesson_progress.yaml"

If file exists, read it to know:

• Last completed lesson
• Current lesson in progress
• Notes from previous lessons

3. Load Lesson Content

Read the appropriate lesson file from skills/lessons/content/NN-name.md

Present the lesson content to the user, following the structure in the lesson file.

4. Interactive Teaching

Lessons are interactive experiences with pause points where you wait for user action:

Structure:

• Present a section up to a [PAUSE] marker
• Wait for user to try the exercise or ask questions
• Respond to what they did with feedback and encouragement
• Present next section up to next [PAUSE]
• Continue until lesson complete

During pauses:

• Don't rush ahead - let them experiment
• Give specific feedback on what they tried
• If they get stuck, offer hints or demonstrations
• If they ask questions, answer them before continuing
• Celebrate when they succeed ("Nice! That's exactly right.")

Tone:

• Friendly and conversational
• Encouraging, not condescending
• Patient with mistakes
• Enthusiastic about progress

5. Check Understanding

At the end of each lesson:

• Ask if user has questions
• Offer to demonstrate again if needed
• Suggest they try the concept on their own
• Confirm they're ready to move forward

6. Update Progress

After lesson completion, update progress file:

last_updated: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM
completed_lessons:
  - 01-first-conversation
  - 02-reading-files
current_lesson: 03-creating-files
notes:
  - "User particularly interested in file operations"
  - "Completed lesson 2 quickly, comfortable with reading"

7. Suggest Next Steps

Offer:

• Continue to next lesson immediately
• Take a break and come back later
• Practice current lesson concepts before moving on
• Skip ahead if they're comfortable (with caution)

Progress Tracking Location

User's progress is stored in their personal data layer:

• MacOS/Linux: ~/ai-data/learning/lesson_progress.yaml
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\ai-data\learning\lesson_progress.yaml

Create the file on first use if it doesn't exist.

Output Format

Lesson Presentation

# Lesson N: [Title]

[Friendly introduction to the lesson topic]

## What You'll Learn

- Key concept 1
- Key concept 2
- Key concept 3

## Let's Try It

[Interactive demonstration or exercise]

## Key Takeaways

- Important point 1
- Important point 2

## Questions?

[Pause for user questions]

---

Ready for the next lesson? Or would you like to practice this more?

Lesson Menu

# Sourdough Lessons

Your progress: [X] of [14] lessons completed

## Available Lessons

✅ 1. Welcome & First Conversation (completed)
✅ 2. Reading Files (completed)
→ 3. Creating Files (in progress)
   4. Editing Files
   5. Understanding Context
   ... [etc]

Which lesson would you like to start?

Special Lesson Notes

Lesson 8: Risk & Responsibility

This lesson is critical and should not be skipped. It covers:

• What file access means in practice
• What could go wrong
• User responsibility model
• How to stay safe
• When to say "no" to AI suggestions

Present this seriously but not alarmingly. Goal is informed users, not scared users.

Lesson 14: Next Steps

Graduates users from lessons to independent usage. Includes:

• Recap of key concepts
• Resources for continued learning
• Suggestions for customization
• Community/support information

Notes

• Keep lessons short (5-10 minutes each)
• Make them practical, not theoretical
• Encourage experimentation
• Celebrate progress
• Be patient with questions
• Remember: learning happens by doing

Philosophy

"The best way to learn AI augmentation is to be augmented by AI while learning about AI augmentation."

Pro tip: If a user struggles with a concept, break it down further or demonstrate it live. There's no rush—understanding matters more than speed.