Professor — A Socratic Learning Plugin for AI Coding Agents

A plugin that teaches you to code by asking questions instead of giving answers. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and OpenCode.

What Is This?

Most AI coding assistants will write code for you the moment you ask. Professor does the opposite. It is built on the Socratic method: rather than handing you a solution, the professor asks questions that help you reason through the problem yourself. You think, you try, you make mistakes, and you learn.

Key differentiators:

• Socratic by design — never gives answers; guides through questions
• 4 levels — Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert
• Git worktrees — each course on its own branch, isolated from your project code
• Spaced repetition — flashcard drills keep knowledge from fading
• Multi-agent system — 5 specialized agents (Professor, Coach, Spotter, Navigator, Researcher)
• Skill registry — install community skills earned by other learners

Requirements

• AI agent — Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, or Cursor.
• Node.js — required for hook scripts (Node.js 18 or newer recommended).
• Git — required for git worktree-based courses.
• Notion or Obsidian — only needed if you want to use the professor:export command. See setup sections below.

Install

Option 1: Using npx (Recommended)

npx course-professor init

Auto-detects your agent and sets up the plugin. Or specify manually:

npx course-professor setup claude    # Claude Code
npx course-professor setup cursor    # Cursor
npx course-professor setup opencode  # OpenCode
npx course-professor setup gemini    # Gemini CLI

Option 2: Manual Install

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/professor-skills/course-learning-plugin.git

2. Create the plugins directory (if it does not exist):

   mkdir -p ~/.claude/plugins

3. Symlink the repo into the plugins directory:

   ln -s "$(pwd)/course-learning-plugin" ~/.claude/plugins/professor

4. Restart your AI agent to reload plugins. The professor:* commands will be available in your next session.

Agents

Professor uses a team of 5 specialized agents. Each has a distinct role:

| Agent | Commands | Role | |---|---|---| | Professor | Orchestrates everything | Main Socratic mentor — teaches by asking questions | | Coach | professor:review, professor:done, professor:stuck | Self-assessment dialogue — starts every interaction by asking what you think | | Spotter | professor:spotter | Mid-work check-ins — catches confusion before it compounds | | Navigator | professor:navigator, professor:progress | Section bridges — shows how concepts connect across the course | | Researcher | professor:next (assists) | Web research before lecture generation — keeps content current |

You interact with Professor directly; it routes specialized commands to the right agent automatically.

Notion MCP Setup

Only needed if you want to export your notes and progress to Notion using professor:export.

Step 1: Create a Notion integration

1. Go to notion.so/my-integrations
2. Click "New integration"
3. Give it a name (e.g., "Professor Plugin"), click Submit
4. Copy the Internal Integration Token shown on the integration page

Step 2: Share your target page with the integration

1. Open the Notion page where you want exports to appear
2. Click the ... menu → Connections → find your integration and connect it

Step 3: Add the MCP config

Create or edit .mcp.json in your project root (or ~/.claude/settings.json under "mcpServers" depending on your Claude Code version):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notion": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-notion"],
      "env": {
        "NOTION_API_TOKEN": "your-notion-integration-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace your-notion-integration-token-here with the token you copied in Step 1.

Obsidian MCP Setup

Only needed if you want to export your notes and progress to Obsidian using professor:export.

Step 1: Install the Obsidian Local REST API plugin

1. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins
2. Search for Local REST API and install it
3. Enable the plugin, then go to its settings
4. Copy the API Key shown there (the default port is 27123)

Step 2: Add the MCP config

Create or edit .mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "obsidian": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-obsidian"],
      "env": {
        "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY": "your-obsidian-rest-api-key-here",
        "OBSIDIAN_HOST": "127.0.0.1",
        "OBSIDIAN_PORT": "27123"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace your-obsidian-rest-api-key-here with the API key from Step 1. Update OBSIDIAN_PORT if you changed the default port in the plugin settings.

Commands

Course Navigation

| Command | Description | |---|---| | professor:new-topic | Start a new course — Professor researches the topic and proposes a syllabus | | professor:next | Move to the next section — generates lecture + exercise | | professor:done | Mark the current section complete — Professor confirms understanding, creates flashcards | | professor:review | Review your work with Coach — Socratic feedback with self-assessment first | | professor:syllabus | Display the full course syllabus | | professor:progress | Show current progress, streak, and time spent | | professor:switch | Switch between active courses | | professor:worktrees | List all learning worktrees and archived courses |

Getting Help

| Command | Description | |---|---| | professor:hint | Ask for a hint — 3 layers: conceptual → tool/pattern → pseudo-code | | professor:stuck | Tell Professor you're blocked — structured breakdown without giving the answer | | professor:discuss | Free-form Q&A on the current concept | | professor:quiz | 5 questions matched to your level | | professor:spotter | Mid-work check-in — catch confusion before it compounds |

Capstone

| Command | Description | |---|---| | professor:capstone | View the capstone project brief | | professor:capstone-review | Submit your finished project for Socratic review |

Retention & Notes

| Command | Description | |---|---| | professor:recall | Spaced repetition drill — 3 Socratic questions per section | | professor:schedule | Review dashboard — overdue, today, and upcoming sections | | professor:note | Save a timestamped note to your course notes file | | professor:export | Push notes and progress to Notion or Obsidian |

Templates & Archiving

| Command | Description | |---|---| | professor:template-export | Export course as a shareable template (no personal data) | | professor:template-import | Import a community course template | | professor:archive | Archive a completed course with summary and notes |

CLI

npx course-professor [command]

Setup

| Command | Description | |---|---| | init | Auto-detect agent and set up | | setup <agent> | Set up for a specific agent | | list | List supported agents |

Course & Skill Registry

| Command | Description | |---|---| | courses | Browse available community courses | | search <keyword> | Search courses by keyword | | install <name> | Install a course → learning/{name}/ | | install --skill <name> | Install a skill → .claude/skills/{name}/ | | update <skill-name> | Update an installed skill to the latest version | | update --all | Update all installed skills | | installed | List all installed skills | | remove <skill-name> | Remove an installed skill |

Skill scopes:

• --local — this project only (.claude/skills/)
• --global — all projects (default, prompts for scope)
• --force — bypass confirmation prompts

Web UI

| Command | Description | |---|---| | web | Start local web UI (default port 3000) | | web [port] | Start on a specific port | | web --production | Start in production mode (requires build) |

How Courses Work

Each course lives in a git worktree on its own branch — isolated from your project code, so you can work on exercises without affecting your project.

learning/
└── {topic-slug}/           ← git worktree (dedicated branch)
    ├── COURSE.md            ← Syllabus + progress tracker (source of truth)
    ├── LECTURE.md           ← Current section (overwritten each professor:next)
    ├── NOTES.md             ← Your notes
    ├── CAPSTONE.md          ← Final project brief (immutable)
    └── SCHEDULE.md          ← Flashcards + spaced repetition queue

Progress is stored in plain Markdown files — no database, no lock-in. Your COURSE.md tracks everything: syllabus, completed sections, streaks, time spent, and notes.

Community Courses & Skills

Browse and install community-contributed content from the registry:

npx course-professor courses                       # list all available courses
npx course-professor search react                 # search by keyword
npx course-professor install react-hooks          # install → learning/react-hooks/

After installing, run professor:new-topic in your agent — Professor detects the downloaded course automatically and picks up where the syllabus left off.

Skills are real problem-solvers earned by learners who completed a course and built the capstone. Install one and it becomes a specialized agent in your projects:

npx course-professor install --skill react-hooks-reviewer           # prompts for scope
npx course-professor install --skill react-hooks-reviewer --global  # install globally
npx course-professor update react-hooks-reviewer                    # update to latest
npx course-professor installed                                      # list what you have
npx course-professor remove react-hooks-reviewer                    # uninstall

Registry: professor-skills/registry

Scope and Limitations

• Multi-platform. Works with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, and Cursor.
• The professor will never complete your exercises. That is the whole point. If you ask for code, it will redirect you with a question. This is not a bug.
• Notion and Obsidian MCP are optional. The core learning workflow works without any external services. Export requires the relevant MCP server to be running in your project environment.
• Courses are local. The plugin and your course files live on your machine. The registry is a GitHub repository — no server required.