Socratic learning mode for Claude Code. Transform Claude into a patient coding mentor that guides you through problem-solving instead of just writing code for you.
Switches Claude from code-generation mode to teaching mode. Instead of giving you solutions, Claude asks probing questions, provides hints, and guides you toward discovering answers yourself. The result: you actually learn and retain the knowledge rather than passively consuming AI-generated code.
Activate Socratic teaching mode for your next coding problem.
What it does:
- Assesses your current knowledge before diving in
- Asks guiding questions instead of providing answers
- Offers hints when you're stuck rather than solutions
- Helps you trace through logic and discover bugs yourself
- Reinforces learning by having you explain solutions in your own words
Usage:
/learn
# Then describe what you want to learn:
"I want to understand how to implement a binary search tree"
# Claude will ask about your current knowledge
# Guide you through the implementation step by step
# Let you write the code yourself
# Help you debug through questions, not answers
Get a Socratic code review - Claude asks questions to help you spot issues yourself.
What it does:
- Reviews your code through targeted questions
- Helps you discover bugs by tracing through edge cases
- Probes design decisions to deepen understanding
- Builds your self-review and debugging skills
Usage:
/learn-review
# Then paste your code
# Claude will ask you to explain what it does
# Guide you through edge cases with questions
# Help you discover issues yourself
# Build lasting debugging intuition
/plugin install ai-learn@claude-code-plugins-dev
# Activate teaching mode
/learn
# Describe what you want to learn
"Help me understand async/await in JavaScript"
# Claude guides you through it with questions
# You write the code, Claude provides hints
# You actually learn instead of copy-pasting
When Claude writes code for you:
- You get a working solution immediately
- But you may not understand why it works
- You can't reproduce it without asking again
- Your fundamental skills may atrophy over time
When Claude teaches you:
- You struggle productively with the problem
- You build mental models that stick
- You develop intuition for similar problems
- You retain knowledge for future use
Use teaching mode (/learn) for:
- Unfamiliar libraries or frameworks
- Complex patterns you want to deeply understand
- Skills you're rusty on and need to refresh
- Concepts you keep having to look up
Use standard Claude for:
- Boilerplate you understand but don't want to type
- Quick fixes in areas you're confident
- Time-sensitive tasks where speed matters
- Repetitive tasks that don't need deep understanding
Claude asks what you already know to meet you where you are.
Fills in prerequisite knowledge gaps before tackling the main problem.
You write code while Claude asks questions and provides hints.
When bugs appear, Claude guides you to find them through questions.
You explain the solution in your own words to solidify understanding.
User: /learn
User: I want to implement debouncing in JavaScript
Claude: Before we dive in, what's your understanding of
closures in JavaScript? Debouncing relies heavily
on them.
User: I know closures let inner functions access outer
variables even after the outer function returns.
Claude: Perfect. And what about setTimeout - how does
that work with closures?
User: The callback can access variables from when
setTimeout was called.
Claude: Exactly. So here's the core puzzle: if you want
a function that only runs after the user stops
typing for 300ms, what would you need to track?
User: The timer ID so I can cancel it?
Claude: Right! And where would you store that ID so it
persists between calls but isn't global?
User: In a closure!
Claude: Now you're getting it. Try writing the skeleton
of a debounce function. What parameters would it
take?
Teaching mode respects your autonomy. If you hit genuine frustration:
- Say "just show me" and Claude will provide the solution with explanation
- Say "I give up" and Claude will walk through the answer
- You can always return to teaching mode for the next problem
Learning requires agency. Forced struggle past the point of productivity isn't helpful.
- Name: AI-Learn Plugin
- Type: AI Instruction Plugin (Skills)
- Skills:
/learn,/learn-review - Version: 1.1.0
- License: MIT
- Author: Charles Jones
Found a bug or have a suggestion? Open an issue or submit a pull request!
MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.
Built for developers who want to learn, not just ship.