Scaffold Exercises Skill (mattpocock): Course Folders

Creates course exercise folders (sections, problems, solutions, explainers) with stub readmes that pass the ai-hero-cli lint.

Installs: 504.7K; on skills.sh
Stars: 309.2K; on GitHub
Files: 1; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

scaffold-exercises makes the agent turn a course plan into a folder tree. Sections are named XX-section-name/ inside exercises/, exercises are XX.YY-exercise-name/, and each exercise gets at least one of problem/, solution/ or explainer/ with a non-empty readme.md. Stubs default to explainer/ unless your plan says otherwise.

It starts when you ask to scaffold exercises, create exercise stubs or set up a new course section. It then runs pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint, fixes errors until the lint passes, and commits. It also covers renumbering exercises with git mv. The command it runs means your repo needs ai-hero-cli available.

Good for

Course authors building exercise repos from an outline
Instructors who need numbered sections and exercises that pass lint
Developers who use the AI Hero exercise layout

Install scaffold-exercises

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the scaffold-exercises skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/mattpocock/skills --skill scaffold-exercises

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

From its listing on skills.sh. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

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.

Sections in SKILL.md

Directory naming
Exercise variants
Required files
Workflow
Lint rules summary
Moving/renaming exercises
Example: stubbing from a plan

Key facts

Author: Matt Pocock (mattpocock/skills)
Installs on skills.sh: 504,663 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 309,237 on mattpocock/skills (Nov 2, 2026)
License: MIT
Last repo commit: Nov 1, 2026
What installs: SKILL.md plus 1 bundled file: agents/openai.yaml
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub: pass, Socket: pass, Snyk: pass
Runs: pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint, mkdir -p and git mv, then git commit
Needs: A repo where pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint works

What it includes

Extracts section names, exercise names and variant types
The plan can list explainer, problem and solution per exercise.
Read · Parse the plan
Runs mkdir -p for each path
Sections are XX-name/, exercises are XX.YY-name/, all dash-case.
Runs code · Create directories
Adds a readme.md with a title and description per variant folder
Each readme must be non-empty and have no broken links.
Files · Create stub readmes
Runs pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint
Checks subfolders, readmes, no .gitkeep or speaker-notes.md, no broken links.
Runs code · Run lint
Iterates until lint passes
Then it commits with git commit.
Runs code · Fix errors
Uses git mv to renumber exercises, then re-runs lint
Keeps git history and the order of the numeric prefixes.
Runs code · Move or rename

From the official docs

Permissions

Low risk

It creates folders and files in your repo, runs a lint command and commits. Start from a clean git status.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It runs the lint command and commits
It runs pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint and then git commit. Check git status first so the commit holds only the scaffold.
It can rename existing exercise folders
Renumbering uses git mv, so history is kept. Review the moves before you push.

Technical details

Scopes	Creates folders and readme files under exercises/ Runs git mv and git commit

Questions

What does scaffold-exercises do?

It creates exercise folders from a plan: numbered sections, numbered exercises, and problem, solution or explainer subfolders with stub readmes. Then it runs the lint and fixes errors.

How do I install it?

Follow the install box at the top of the page.

What lint does it run?

pnpm ai-hero-cli internal lint. It checks that each exercise has a subfolder with a non-empty readme, and flags .gitkeep, speaker-notes.md, broken links and pnpm run exercise commands in readmes.

Which variant does it create by default?

explainer/, unless your plan says to create problem and solution folders too.

Can it renumber or move exercises?

Yes. It uses git mv to keep history, updates the numeric prefix, and re-runs lint.

Is it safe?

It makes folders and readmes, runs a lint command and commits to git. It uses no API key. Check git status before and review the commit after.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: mattpocock/skills
Folder: skills/misc/scaffold-exercises

mattpocock/skills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 2

scaffold-exercises SKILL.md · github.com
skills.sh listing · skills.sh