A Claude Code plugin for creating and delivering hands-on technical courses.
Built on proven pedagogical frameworks:
- 4C/ID Model — whole-task learning with progressive complexity
- Bloom's Revised Taxonomy — cognitive level progression (Remember → Create)
- Spiral Curriculum — revisit concepts at increasing depth
- Vygotsky's ZPD + Scaffolding — guided support that fades as skills grow
- Kolb's Experiential Learning — learn by doing, reflect, conceptualize, experiment
- Dreyfus Model — calibrate guidance from novice to expert
Three skills that work together:
Generate structured, hands-on technical courses from a topic + reference materials.
- Interactive interview or spec file to define scope, audience, and depth
- Ingests URLs, local repos, GitHub repos, and documentation as source material
- Produces a full course: concept lessons, code-along exercises, and progressive challenges
- Spiral progression: Foundation → Practice → Mastery loops of increasing complexity
Build large-scale technical reference guides (like the 100x Engineer Guide series) using the diverge-converge method with parallel agents.
- Brainstorm curriculum with fractal spiral structure
- Dispatch 8-12 parallel agents to write 60+ chapters simultaneously
- Converge to weave cross-references and ensure consistency
- Refine with targeted agents, then final polish pass
- Produces complete guides: 50-80k+ lines across multiple Parts and Phases
Interactive tutoring that brings course content to life.
- Mode-switching: adaptive (concepts), Socratic (challenges), direct (on request), supportive (when struggling)
- Skip-ahead support: each module has an "In This Episode" summary for self-assessment
- Conversational enrichment of authored course material
- Claude Code installed and authenticated (v1.0.33+)
Add this repo as a marketplace source, then install the plugin:
# 1. Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add cemergin/tech-skill-builder
# 2. Install the plugin
/plugin install tech-skill-builder@tech-skill-builderOr from the CLI:
claude plugin marketplace add cemergin/tech-skill-builder
claude plugin install tech-skill-builder@tech-skill-builderBy default, the plugin installs to user scope (available across all projects). You can choose a different scope:
- User (default): available everywhere, stored in
~/.claude/settings.json - Project: shared with teammates via
.claude/settings.jsonin the repo - Local: just for you in this repo, gitignored
# Install for your whole team on a specific project
claude plugin install tech-skill-builder@tech-skill-builder --scope project/plugin marketplace update tech-skill-builder
/plugin install tech-skill-builder@tech-skill-builderClone the repo and load it directly with --plugin-dir:
git clone https://github.com/cemergin/tech-skill-builder.git
claude --plugin-dir ./tech-skill-builderThis is useful for testing changes before committing. Restart Claude Code to pick up edits.
Add the marketplace to your project's .claude/settings.json so teammates are prompted to install it automatically:
{
"extraKnownMarketplaces": {
"tech-skill-builder": {
"source": {
"source": "github",
"repo": "cemergin/tech-skill-builder"
}
}
},
"enabledPlugins": {
"tech-skill-builder@tech-skill-builder": true
}
}After installing, confirm the plugin loaded:
/pluginGo to the Installed tab — you should see tech-skill-builder. The skills and commands should now be available.
# Build a comprehensive guide using parallel agents
/tech-skill-builder:create-guide "100x AI Engineer Guide"The skill will:
- Brainstorm the curriculum structure with spiral progression
- Scaffold the directory and initialize git
- Dispatch 8-12 parallel agents to write all chapters
- Converge to weave cross-references and consistency
- Refine and polish with targeted passes
# Start the interactive course creator (command)
/tech-skill-builder:create-course Terraform for our platform team
# Or provide a spec file
/tech-skill-builder:create-course ./courses/terraform-101/course-spec.yamlThe skill will:
- Interview you (or read your spec) to understand scope, audience, and depth
- Generate a course outline with spiral progression
- Research your provided URLs, repos, and docs
- Write each module with lessons, exercises, and challenges
- Present for your review
# Start an interactive tutoring session (command)
/tech-skill-builder:learn ./courses/terraform-101The tutor will:
- Assess your current level
- Suggest an entry point (or let you choose)
- Walk you through lessons, exercises, and challenges
- Adapt its teaching style to your needs
courses/<course-name>/
course.yaml # metadata, prerequisites, spiral progression map
01-<module-name>/
episode.md # "In This Episode" — summary, key concepts, prerequisites
lesson.md # Foundation: concept explanation with examples
exercise.md # Practice: step-by-step code-along
challenge.md # Mastery: open-ended problem with hints
starter/ # starter code files
solution/ # reference solutions
02-<module-name>/
...
capstone/ # optional: ties all loops together
brief.md
starter/
solution/
tech-skill-builder/
.claude-plugin/
plugin.json # plugin manifest
marketplace.json # marketplace catalog
skills/
course-creator/ # course authoring skill (model-invoked)
SKILL.md
references/ # pedagogical framework, output format, etc.
guide-creator/ # mega-guide authoring skill (model-invoked)
SKILL.md # diverge-converge workflow for parallel chapter writing
tech-tutor/ # interactive tutoring skill (model-invoked)
SKILL.md
references/ # tutoring modes, assessment rubric, etc.
agents/
chapter-writer.md # writes individual guide chapters (parallel dispatch)
course-researcher.md # fetches URLs, repos, web search
module-writer.md # writes individual course modules
commands/
create-course.md # /create-course user-invocable command
create-guide.md # /create-guide user-invocable command
learn.md # /learn user-invocable command
Built for diverse technical teams:
- Engineers (onboarding to new tools, frameworks, or codebases)
- Data scientists (learning infrastructure, SQL, new libraries)
- Designers (learning APIs, design systems tooling)
- PMs & analysts (learning SQL, CLI tools, data pipelines)
- Anyone building technical skills through hands-on practice
Each module follows a micro-progression:
- Foundation (Remember/Understand) — read the concept, see examples
- Practice (Apply/Analyze) — code-along with guided steps
- Mastery (Evaluate/Create) — solve a challenge independently
Modules are grouped into spiral loops — each loop revisits the domain at a higher complexity level. Early modules have more scaffolding; later modules remove guardrails.
All generated content uses "The Nerdy Friend" voice — imagine a colleague who genuinely lights up when talking about this topic. They use analogies, acknowledge when something is confusing, crack jokes about the absurdity of tech, but never make you feel dumb.
See docs/plans/2026-03-09-tech-skill-builder-design.md for the full design with pedagogical research, architecture decisions, and voice specification.
PRs welcome! If you'd like to improve the pedagogical framework, add new tutoring modes, or enhance the course output format, check the reference docs in skills/*/references/ for context.
Test your changes locally with:
claude --plugin-dir ./tech-skill-builderMIT