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Matt Pocock

Scaffold Exercises skill

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.

$npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill scaffold-exercises
GitHub stars
320,842
Pack installs
33M
Alyn Score
92/99
Updated
34 h ago
License
MIT

Install Scaffold Exercises

Pick your agent. Every command is ready to paste.

$npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill scaffold-exercises

The open skills CLI detects your agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and 70+ more) and installs to the right folder. Add -g to install globally.

01

Install it

Run the command above, or upload the folder in Claude.

02

Ask naturally

Describe the task. Your agent loads scaffold-exercises when the request matches its description.

03

Name it if needed

If it does not trigger, say “use the scaffold-exercises skill”. In Codex, type $scaffold-exercises.

The skill itself

SKILL.md

GitHub

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:

# 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:

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:

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"

Tips for Scaffold Exercises

  • • Start a fresh session after installing so your agent picks up the new skill.
  • • It is part of a pack with 39 skills. Install only the ones you need with --skill to keep triggers precise.
  • • If two skills overlap, mention the one you want by name.

Questions about Scaffold Exercises

What does the Scaffold Exercises skill do?

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.

How do I install Scaffold Exercises?

Run "npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill scaffold-exercises" in your project. The skills CLI installs it for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and 70+ other agents. In Claude on the web, upload the skill folder as a ZIP under Customize > Skills.

Does Scaffold Exercises work in Cursor and Codex?

Yes. Scaffold Exercises uses the open SKILL.md format, so it works in Claude Code, Claude, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and other agents that support agent skills.

Is Scaffold Exercises free?

Scaffold Exercises is open source on GitHub under the MIT license. It is free to install; check the license before commercial use.

Who made Scaffold Exercises?

Scaffold Exercises is published by Matt Pocock in the mattpocock/skills repository, together with 38 other skills.

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