# Paidagogos Path > Use when the user wants a whole learning path rather than one lesson — "I want to become an AI engineer", "give me a roadmap for X", "show me the curriculum", "what should I learn next", "show the learning tree", "/paidagogos:path". Also use when the user asks what a curriculum covers, which concepts feed which, or what resources exist for a topic already in a curriculum. Renders a curriculum as an interactive tree in the browser and routes individual concepts to paidagogos:micro for teaching. - Skill: `neotherapper/paidagogos-path` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add neotherapper/paidagogos-path` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/neotherapper/paidagogos-path/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning - License: MIT - Author: neotherapper (https://skillmd.com/u/neotherapper) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/neotherapper/paidagogos-path --- # paidagogos:path — Curriculum paths Loads a curriculum catalogue, renders it as an interactive tree, and hands individual concepts to `paidagogos:micro` when the user wants to actually learn one. A curriculum is **data**, not prose. Never author a learning path inline in the conversation — write or load a curriculum file and render it. ## Available curricula Do not keep a list here. Run: ```bash node plugins/paidagogos/scripts/build-index.mjs ``` It prints a `gallery` SurfaceSpec built from `plugins/paidagogos/packs/*/pack.json`. Every pack that exists is in that output; anything not in it does not exist. A list written into this file would be a second source of truth that drifts from the first one silently. ## Phase sequence Do not reorder these. ### Phase 1 — Identify the curriculum Match the user's request to a curriculum by running `node plugins/paidagogos/scripts/build-index.mjs` and reading the gallery output. If nothing matches, say so and offer either `paidagogos:micro` for a single concept or to author a new curriculum (Phase 6). Never silently substitute a neighbouring curriculum. ### Phase 2 — Show the index when the request is not about one subject If the user asked what curricula exist, or asked for "the roadmaps", stage the index instead of a single curriculum: ```bash node plugins/paidagogos/scripts/build-index.mjs --out .paidagogos/content/roadmaps.json ``` Give them `http://localhost:/p/paidagogos/roadmaps`. Each card links straight to its curriculum. If the script exits non-zero, report its stderr verbatim and stop — a manifest is broken, and rendering a partial index would present a missing curriculum as one that does not exist. If the user named a subject, skip this phase. ### Phase 3 — Start the renderer Run `visual-kit serve --project-dir .` with `run_in_background: true`. Poll `.visual-kit/server/state/server-info` until `status` is `"running"`, then read the `port`. Do **not** ask the user to start it. If `visual-kit` is not on PATH, fall back to Phase 5 and report the tree in text. ### Phase 4 — Stage and open Copy the curriculum JSON to `.paidagogos/content/.json`, where `` matches `^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$` — the server rejects anything else, so strip dots from the filename. Give the user the URL: `http://localhost:/p/paidagogos/` State what they can do with it: click any node for the concept detail and its resources, and switch study sequence if the curriculum defines more than one. ### Phase 5 — Orient, don't dump Summarise in **at most 10 lines**: the tracks, the recommended first concept, and why that one is first. The tree carries the detail — repeating it in chat defeats the point of rendering it. If the curriculum defines `orderings`, name which is default and what the alternative optimises for. ### Phase 6 — Route to teaching When the user picks a concept, invoke `paidagogos:micro` with: - `topic` = the node's `label` - `level` = the level in the node's `badges`, if present - Seed context = the node's `detail.summary` and `detail.body` If the node has `requires`, check whether the user has covered those first. Say so once; do not refuse to teach. ## Authoring a new curriculum Curricula are `tree` SurfaceSpecs validated against `plugins/visual-kit/schemas/surfaces/tree.v1.json`. Read that schema before authoring — it is the contract, and the server rejects anything that fails it. Conventions this plugin adds on top of the schema: | Convention | Rule | |---|---| | Concept ids | Kebab-case, prefixed with the track letter: `c-entailment-checking` | | Track ids | Single letters where the curriculum has stable tracks | | `kind` | `branch` for tracks, `leaf` for teachable concepts | | `badges` | Estimated time first, then level: `["45 min", "beginner"]` | | `detail.meta` | Domain fields the tree surface does not model — axis, exam weight, build-to-prove-it | | `requires` | Real prerequisites only, including cross-track ones. This is what makes it a DAG rather than a list. | | `orderings` | One per defensible study sequence. Mark one `default`. | | Pack manifest | Every curriculum needs `packs//pack.json` validated against `plugins/paidagogos/schemas/pack.v1.json`. Without it the curriculum is invisible to the index. | ### Sourcing rules for resources A curriculum that cites a certification is making a factual claim about a third party. The schema enforces the minimum — any resource with a `certification` field must carry both `url` and `verified_at` — but the discipline is yours: 1. Read the figure off the **vendor's own page or exam guide**. Never a study-guide site; several publish invented blueprints, and one matching the official weights once is not evidence the next will. 2. Cite the durable landing page as `url`. If you read a generated PDF, put it in `artifact_url` — those links rotate. 3. Set `verified_at` to the date **you** checked it, not the date someone told you. 4. If you are relaying a figure you did not verify yourself, set `provenance` and explain in `note`. Do not launder second-hand facts into first-hand ones. Set `provenance` on every resource — `primary` (you read the publisher's own page), `secondary` (summarised from someone else's write-up), `relayed` (taken from another party's extraction unchecked). The three verification fields are orthogonal and none substitutes for another: | Field | Answers | |---|---| | `verified_at` | When did someone last look? | | `lifecycle` | Does it still exist in the form described? | | `provenance` | Is this first-hand, or am I repeating someone? | **Dropping the URL is not the cautious option.** A precise figure with no source is unfalsifiable while the precision still reads as verification — that is worse than a source with no figure. If you cannot cite it, mark it `secondary` and say what it came from. Check retirement status before recommending any certification. Search results routinely present retired exams as current. ### Validate before rendering ```bash node -e " import('ajv/dist/2020.js').then(async ({default:A})=>{ const fs=await import('node:fs/promises'); const ajv=new A({strict:false,allErrors:true}); (await import('ajv-formats')).default(ajv); const v=ajv.compile(JSON.parse(await fs.readFile('plugins/visual-kit/schemas/surfaces/tree.v1.json','utf8'))); const ok=v(JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(process.argv[1],'utf8'))); console.log(ok?'VALID':v.errors); });" ``` The schema cannot express four things you must check by hand: ids are unique, every `requires` target exists, every `orderings.sequence` entry exists, and every `group` referenced by a node is declared. ## Out of scope Lesson generation belongs to `paidagogos:micro`. Rendering belongs to `visual-kit`. Progress tracking is not modelled — curricula are content, and any progress overlay is a separate file so the curriculum stays reusable by other learners.