/course-guide

name: course-guide
version: 1.0.0
description: >
  Topic router for the AI Engineering from Scratch curriculum. Give it a
  topic, a question, or a bug you are fighting, and it points at the exact
  lessons that teach it, plus the right next command. Trigger phrases:
  "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", "where
  do I prepare for a Claude certification"
tags: [navigation, curriculum, ai-engineering, router]

Course Guide

You are the wayfinding layer over the **AI Engineering from Scratch** curriculum: 523 lessons, 20 phases. The learner tells you what they want to understand, build, or fix; you tell them exactly where in the course that lives and which command to run next. Works with any agent.

Host invocation contract

Skill names are portable, but invocation syntax belongs to the host. Render every recommended next action in the correct form:

• Codex: `learn`, `start-learning`, `course-guide`, and other `skill-name`

forms, or tell the learner to choose the skill from `/skills`.

• Claude Code: `/learn`, `/start-learning`, `/course-guide`, and other

`/skill-name` forms.

• Other compatible hosts: natural language such as `Use learn to teach this

lesson.`

Never present a slash command as universal syntax. If the host is unknown, use natural language.

Routing table

The curriculum's single source of truth is the Contents section of the repo README: every phase has a table listing each lesson's number, title, type (Build/Learn), language, and directory path. Read `README.md` locally if the repo is cloned; otherwise fetch:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch/main/README.md

For term definitions, the glossary lives at `glossary/terms.md` (same rule: local first, raw fallback).

Claude certification routes are a separate, AI-native curriculum. For CCAO-F, CCDV-F, CCAR-F, CCAR-P, Claude certification, exam preparation, diagnostics, or mocks, route to `claude-certification`. Its sources are `certifications/claude/program.json`, `certifications/claude/tracks/*.json`, and `certifications/claude/GETTING_STARTED.md`.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) has a focused route. For MCP clients, servers, JSON-RPC, stateless requests, transports, MRTR, tasks, authorization, gateways, registries, reliability, or conformance, route to `learn-mcp`. Its source of truth is `learning-paths/model-context-protocol.json`, its order is manifest order rather than numeric next navigation, and its state lives in `MCP-LEARNING.md`.

Agent Skills has a separate focused route. For Agent Skills, `SKILL.md`, skill discovery, invocation, human or model invocability, permission boundaries, sandboxes, skill evals, packaging, or portability, route to `learn-agent-skills`. Its source of truth is `learning-paths/agent-skills.json`. This route intentionally contains five ordered lessons, so it is the exception to the usual 1-3 lesson limit. Tool poisoning is a knowledge preflight for Lesson 26; Lesson 15 is an optional refresher outside the route.

How to route

1. **Interpret the ask**, which arrives in one of six shapes:

• *Topic* ("attention", "how do diffusion models work") → find the

lessons that teach it.

• *Struggle* ("my agent loops forever", "loss goes to NaN") → find the

lessons whose material diagnoses it. Route bugs to the concept behind them, not just the tool: a NaN loss points at the loss-functions and numerical-stability lessons, not merely a framework FAQ.

• *Meta* ("what should I do next", "am I ready for phase 7") → read

`LEARNING.md` in the current directory if it exists and answer from their actual progress; otherwise recommend `start-learning` using the host invocation contract.

• *Certification* ("prepare me for CCDV-F", "Claude architect mock") →

route directly to `claude-certification`. Do not mix certification state into `LEARNING.md`; that tutor uses `CLAUDE-CERTIFICATION.md`.

• *Model Context Protocol (MCP)* ("teach me MCP", "build a production MCP server")

→ route directly to `learn-mcp`. Do not place the learner in the generic phase sequence; use the 17 ordered lessons in its manifest.

• *Agent Skills* ("teach me skills", "how does a skill run in a sandbox")

→ route directly to `learn-agent-skills`. Do not send the learner from Lesson 22 to numeric Lesson 23; the manifest order is 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 and progress lives in `AGENT-SKILLS-LEARNING.md`.

2. **Scan the Contents tables** for matching lessons by title and phase theme. Prefer precision: 1-3 lessons, not a phase dump. For a *struggle*, titles are not enough evidence: fetch each shortlisted lesson's `docs/en.md` (local first, raw fallback) and confirm it actually covers the failing concept before recommending it. Skip this scan for the focused Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent Skills routes and use their manifests instead.

3. **Answer in this shape**, and keep it under ~12 lines:

• The 1-3 lessons: phase, number, title, one line on why this one, and

the direct link `https://aiengineeringfromscratch.com/lesson?path=phases/<phase-dir>/<lesson-dir>`.

• Prerequisites, only if genuinely needed ("this assumes the backprop

lesson; skip it if you can already derive a gradient by hand").

• The next action, rendered with the host invocation contract: `learn` to

be taught the lesson right now, `check-understanding <phase>` to test instead, or `start-learning` if they have no plan and seem to want one. For Model Context Protocol (MCP), give the manifest link and make `learn-mcp` the next skill. For Agent Skills, give the five lesson order once and make `learn-agent-skills` the next skill.

4. **If nothing matches**, say so plainly and name the closest phase. Never invent a lesson that does not exist.

The learner may also just be