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Guide · Agent skill

How to use the Start Learning agent skill (start-learning)

Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data

Start Learning is an agent skill for the AI Engineering from Scratch course, which has 542 lessons across 20 phases. When it runs, the agent acts as an onboarding guide: it asks three short questions, runs a placement quiz, and writes a LEARNING.md file that tracks your study plan. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it, and what it needs to work.

Start Learning Onboardingrohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch · MIT

Quick start

  1. 1Download the ZIP. Get the start-learning skill ZIP from the item page and unzip it.
  2. 2Place the folder. Move the unzipped folder into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/, or upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
  3. 3Install the companions. Install find-your-level for the placement quiz and learn for study sessions.
  4. 4Start a session. Open your project folder and ask the agent to start learning, for example "onboard me".
  5. 5Answer the three questions. Give your reason for learning, your weekly time and what you want to build by the end.
  6. 6Take the placement quiz. Answer the 10 questions across 5 areas, or skip it and name your starting phase from 0 to 19.
  7. 7Use LEARNING.md. Check the generated LEARNING.md file, then resume with the learn skill.

What is an agent skill and what does start-learning do?

An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file with instructions that an AI agent reads and follows when a matching request comes in. This skill is named start-learning and is a one-time onboarding flow for the AI Engineering from Scratch curriculum.

Once triggered, the agent asks you three questions about why you are learning, how much time you have each week, and what you want to build. It then runs a placement quiz to choose a starting phase and writes LEARNING.md in your current folder. Later study sessions use the separate learn skill to read and update that file.

  • Asks three questions: your reason for learning, weekly time (about 2 h, 5 h, 10 h, or as fast as possible) and what you want to build.
  • Runs a placement quiz with 5 areas and 10 questions, handled by the companion find-your-level skill.
  • Writes LEARNING.md with your mission, placement result, entry phase, pace and path.
  • Routes you to dedicated tracks for MCP, Agent Skills or reverse engineering if you ask for them.

Install the start-learning skill

Download the skill ZIP from the item page and unzip it. Put the resulting folder in one of two places: ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available across your projects, or .claude/skills/ inside a single project folder to limit it to that project.

If you use the Claude apps instead, open Settings, go to Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the ZIP there.

  • Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
  • Project install: unzip into .claude/skills/ in your project
  • Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP

Install the companion skills it depends on

This skill does not work alone. The placement quiz comes from find-your-level, and study sessions run through learn. Install both before you start, since the skill hands off to them.

Other routes also have their own companion skills: learn-mcp for Model Context Protocol, learn-agent-skills for Agent Skills, learn-reverse-engineering for reverse engineering, and claude-certification. You only need these if you choose those tracks.

  • Required for placement: find-your-level
  • Required for study sessions: learn
  • Optional tracks: learn-mcp, learn-agent-skills, learn-reverse-engineering, claude-certification

How do you trigger the skill with natural requests?

You can ask for it in plain language. The skill's description lists these trigger phrases, and any of them should start the onboarding flow.

In Claude Code, you can call it directly with the slash form. Other hosts may expect the skill name or a natural-language request, so check your host's documentation if the skill does not start.

  • "start learning"
  • "set up the course"
  • "begin the curriculum"
  • "onboard me"
  • "create my learning plan"
/start-learning

What happens during a session?

The agent asks its three questions one at a time, then runs the placement quiz. You can skip the quiz if you already know your starting phase. In that case the agent checks that the phase is between 0 and 19 and marks the placement score as self-selected.

The agent creates LEARNING.md in the current directory. If that file already exists, the agent does not overwrite it. It summarizes the file and offers three options: resume with learn, re-run placement, or start over. Starting over requires your explicit confirmation and archives the old file as LEARNING-<YYYY-MM-DD>.md.

  • Existing LEARNING.md: never overwritten silently
  • Re-run placement: updates only the Placement section and Path statuses
  • Start over: requires explicit confirmation and renames the old file to an archive

Safety notes and requirements

The skill needs a host agent that can read and write files in the current directory, because LEARNING.md is written there. It does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing. The package contains a single file, SKILL.md.

The skill writes a file into your project folder. If you do not want that, do not use this skill. Be aware that it also manages state files for other learning routes, and it resolves resume requests by sending you to the route that owns the file, rather than merging progress between them.

  • Requires: read and write access to the current directory
  • Runs scripts: no
  • Uses network: no
  • Files included: SKILL.md only
  • Writes: LEARNING.md in your current folder

What people use it for

  • Starting the AI Engineering from Scratch course from the right phase instead of from the top.
  • Returning to the course after a break and resuming a saved plan with learn.
  • Setting a realistic weekly pace and a build goal so later lessons connect to your project.
  • Moving to a dedicated MCP or Agent Skills track when that is the only part you want.

Frequently asked questions

Is the start-learning skill free to use?

The item is listed under the MIT licence. Check the licence file in the source repository for the full terms before you reuse or redistribute it.

What do I need to install before start-learning works?

You need the find-your-level skill for the placement quiz and the learn skill for study sessions. Your host agent also needs permission to read and write files in your current directory.

Where does the skill save my progress?

It writes LEARNING.md into the current directory. The learn skill reads and updates that file in later sessions, so treat it as the learner's source of truth.

Can I skip the placement quiz?

Yes. If you already know your starting phase, tell the agent, and it will validate the phase number from 0 to 19 and record the placement score as self-selected.

What should I do if the skill does not start?

Check that the folder sits in ~/.claude/skills/ or .claude/skills/, or that the ZIP was uploaded under Settings → Capabilities → Skills. Then try one of the trigger phrases and confirm your host can write files to the current folder.

Does start-learning run scripts or use the network?

According to its listing, it runs no scripts and uses no network access. The package contains only SKILL.md.

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Our verdict

Use start-learning if you want a structured starting point for the AI Engineering from Scratch course and are happy for the agent to keep a LEARNING.md file in your project. Pick something else if you only want one-off answers about AI topics, or if you do not want the skill to write files into your folders.

Download the skill