_____ _____ _               ____
 / ____/ ____| |        /\   |  _ \
| |   | |    | |       /  \  | |_) |
| |   | |    | |      / /\ \ |  _ <      cclab: learn Claude Code inside Claude Code
| |___| |____| |____ / ____ \| |_) |     v0.2.1 · 2 tracks · 16 exercises
 \_____\_____|______/_/    \_\____/      [email protected]

ClaudeLab (cclab)

An interactive tutorial system that teaches Claude Code — directly inside Claude Code. Learn through progressive, validated exercises with setup, instructions, validation, and hints.

Inspiration

When I started using Claude Code, I tried to find tutorials online but almost all of them were blogs or instructional videos, even the official course from Anthropic. At that time, I was also learning Rust and Rustlings is a pretty neat CLI learning tool. It inspired me to create ClaudeLab (cclab).

How It Works

ClaudeLab is a Claude Code plugin. Each exercise is self-contained with:

• Metadata — ID (cc-NNN / wf-NNN), track, difficulty
• Setup — scaffolds a workspace at ~/.cclab/workspace/<exercise-id>/
• Instructions — what to do (markdown)
• Validation — programmatic (deterministic) checks for correctness
• Hints — progressive: gentle → specific → near-answer

Use these skills inside Claude Code:

Skill	Description
/cclab:start	Begin or resume the next exercise
/cclab:check	Validate your current exercise
/cclab:hint	Get a progressive hint (up to 3 levels)
/cclab:status	View your progress dashboard
/cclab:reset	Restart the current exercise from scratch
/cclab:setup	Configure permissions for fewer prompts

Exercises

Fundamentals Track (8 exercises)

#	Exercise	Difficulty	What You'll Learn
cc-001	Hello Claude Code	Beginner	Your first prompt — verify setup and get comfortable
cc-002	Your First CLAUDE.md	Beginner	Create a CLAUDE.md briefing document for a project
cc-003	Convention Enforcer	Beginner	Use CLAUDE.md directives to enforce code style automatically
cc-004	Code Detective	Beginner	Explore codebases by reading files and searching patterns
cc-005	The Great Refactor	Intermediate	Coordinated multi-file edits (rename, restructure)
cc-006	Git Like a Pro	Intermediate	Git workflow — branches, staging, conventional commits
cc-007	Command Center	Beginner	Discover and document built-in slash commands
cc-008	Prompt Architect	Intermediate	Structured prompt patterns for better results (capstone)

Workflows Track (8 exercises)

#	Exercise	Difficulty	What You'll Learn
wf-001	Hook Line	Beginner	Configure hooks that automate tasks on file edits
wf-002	Guard Rails	Beginner	Set up permissions to allow/deny tools and protect secrets
wf-003	Command Crafter	Beginner	Create a custom slash command with a SKILL.md file
wf-004	Skill Surgeon	Intermediate	Skills with arguments, hints, and manual-only invocation
wf-005	Agent Assembler	Intermediate	Create a specialized subagent with restricted tools
wf-006	Plan & Conquer	Intermediate	Combine a planning skill + implementation subagents (capstone)
wf-007	Plug It In	Intermediate	Configure an MCP server to extend Claude Code with tools
wf-008	Branch Out	Intermediate	Use git worktrees for parallel isolated work

More tracks planned: Advanced.

Known issue: After installing, you may see additional developer-only skills (e.g., /create-exercise, /prd-create, /task-planning). These are internal tools for exercise authors — learners can safely ignore them. Only use the 6 skills listed above.

Getting Started

Package Install

# 1. Launch Claude Code
claude

# 2. Add the plugin marketplace
/plugin marketplace add fibonax/claudelab

# 3. Install the plugin
/plugin install cclab@fibonax-claudelab

# 4. Start learning
/start

Offline Install

If you prefer to install from a local clone:

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/fibonax/claudelab.git

# 2. Launch Claude Code from the cloned directory
cd claudelab
claude

# 3. Start learning — the plugin loads automatically from the local project
/start

Note: Your exercise files are created in ~/.cclab/workspace/, not in the cloned repository. The plugin source directory stays clean.

Start Learning

Once installed, use these commands inside Claude Code to work through exercises:

# Begin or resume the next exercise
/cclab:start

# Check your solution
/cclab:check

# Stuck? Get a progressive hint (up to 3 levels)
/cclab:hint

# See your overall progress
/cclab:status

# Restart the current exercise from scratch
/cclab:reset

Each exercise builds on the last — just run /cclab:start after completing one to move to the next.

cclab-validator

cclab-validator is a Rust CLI tool (in tools/cclab-validator/) that tests exercise solvability end-to-end. It spawns Claude Code to solve each exercise as a real learner would — running /start, solving the exercise, then running /check — and reports pass/fail.

If an exercise fails, its instructions or validation are broken.

Build

cd tools/cclab-validator
cargo build --release

Usage

# Test a single exercise
cclab-validator --exercise cc-001

# Test an entire track
cclab-validator --track fundamentals

# Test all exercises
cclab-validator --all

# Use a specific model (default: sonnet)
cclab-validator --model opus --exercise cc-001

# Show Claude's full output for debugging
cclab-validator --exercise cc-001 --verbose

# Keep going after a failure
cclab-validator --all --continue-on-fail

Options

Flag	Description
-e, --exercise <id>	Run a specific exercise (e.g., cc-001, wf-003)
-t, --track <name>	Run all exercises in a track (e.g., fundamentals)
-a, --all	Run all exercises
-m, --model <model>	Model to use (default: sonnet)
--max-budget <usd>	Max budget per exercise in USD (default: 0.50)
-v, --verbose	Show Claude's full output stream
-c, --continue-on-fail	Continue running after a failure
--plugin-dir <path>	Path to cclab plugin root (auto-detected if not set)

How It Works

1. Resets the exercise workspace and progress.json to a clean state
2. Spawns claude -p with a prompt that instructs Claude to run /cclab:start, solve the exercise, and run /cclab:check
3. Parses the output for PASS or FAIL markers
4. Reports results with timing and cost data

This tool is meant for exercise authors to validate that exercises are solvable before shipping them.

Development

See CLAUDE.md for project conventions and the development pipeline.

License

AGPL-3.0