How to use the Course Guide Router agent skill

What an agent skill is and what course-guide makes the agent do

An agent skill is a folder of instructions, packaged with a SKILL.md file, that an AI agent loads when a request matches it. The course-guide skill is listed as one of these, with the file name SKILL.md as its only file.

Once loaded, the agent acts as a wayfinding layer over the course. For a topic, it finds the lessons that teach it. For a struggle, such as a bug or a concept you cannot get past, it looks for lessons whose material diagnoses that problem, rather than matching on a tool name alone. For a meta question like what to study next, it reads your LEARNING.md file if one exists and answers from your progress.

• Topic requests return 1-3 lessons, with phase, number, title, a one-line reason and a direct link.
• Struggle requests are checked against each shortlisted lesson's docs/en.md before a lesson is recommended.
• Certification, MCP and Agent Skills questions are sent to their dedicated routes instead of the general phase sequence.
• If nothing matches, the agent says so and names the closest phase rather than inventing a lesson.

Install the course-guide skill

Option one is to download the ZIP from the skill's page on this directory and unzip it into your personal skills folder, ~/.claude/skills/, so it is available in every project. Option two is to unzip it into a project's .claude/skills/ folder, so it applies only to that project.

Option three is for the Claude apps. Upload the ZIP there under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/ (available everywhere).
• Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project folder (only that project).
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP.

Get the course repository and companion skills ready

The skill needs a copy of the rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch repository. If you have a local clone, the agent reads README.md and the glossary from it first. If you do not, the agent fetches them from the repository's raw GitHub URL instead, so network access is needed in that case.

The next-step commands only work if the course's companion skills are also installed: learn, start-learning, check-understanding, learn-mcp, learn-agent-skills, and claude-certification.

• Local clone of rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch (optional, preferred).
• Network access if you rely on the raw GitHub fallback.
• Companion skills listed above, for the suggested next commands to work.

How to trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need an exact command. The skill's description lists trigger phrases such as "where do I learn", "which lesson covers", "course guide", "I'm stuck on", "what should I do next", "teach me MCP", "teach me Agent Skills", and "where do I prepare for a Claude certification". Plain sentences that match these ideas work too.

If you use Claude Code, the skill can be invoked by its slash form. Other hosts use natural language instead, as the skill's host invocation rules describe.

Examples of requests and what you get back

A concept request returns the lessons that teach it. A bug request returns the lessons that explain the concept behind the bug, not just the tool. A meta request is answered from your progress file if one exists.

Requests about MCP, Agent Skills, reverse engineering, or Claude certification are handed to their focused routes. The Agent Skills route contains five ordered lessons in the order 22, 24, 25, 26, 27.

• "Where do I learn attention?" returns one to three lessons with links.
• "I'm stuck on loss goes to NaN" points you to loss-functions and numerical-stability lessons.
• "What should I do next?" reads LEARNING.md in the current directory and answers from it.
• "Teach me MCP" sends you to the learn-mcp route.
• "Prepare me for CCDV-F" sends you to the claude-certification route.

Safety notes: scripts and network access

According to the skill's own listing, it does not run scripts. It does use the network, but only in the case where the local repository is missing: then it fetches README.md and glossary files from raw.githubusercontent.com. Check the SKILL.md file before installing if you want to confirm this for yourself.

• Runs scripts: no.
• Uses network: yes, as a fallback to read repository files from GitHub.
• It is licensed under MIT.

Tips for getting better routes

Describe the problem in concept terms, such as the error and what you were trying to do, because the skill matches on concepts and not only tool names. Keep your LEARNING.md current if you want meta answers based on your real progress.

Remember that the skill gives you lessons to read and commands to run, not lessons themselves. Use the suggested next command to be taught the material.

• Name the failing behaviour, not just the library.
• Keep a local clone so the agent reads the README first.
• Ask for one topic at a time to get a tighter shortlist.