scaffold

name	scaffold
description	Bootstrap a new course or masterclass repository and generate its module, topic, and lab layout. Interactive: asks a few questions (class title, audience, module count or outline, whether labs are needed), then creates the base skeleton (.claude/, demos/, labs/, root CLAUDE.md) and numbered module folders. Can bootstrap from an outline file (## Module N: headings become module folders, bullets become numbered topic subfolders) or purely interactively, at flat or deep-nested depth. Standalone skill; also called by the create-class master. Trigger phrases: scaffold a class, scaffold a new class, bootstrap course layout, set up base repo, new class, generate modules from outline, create demos and labs folders, scaffold module, add topic subfolders, bootstrap course repo.
license	CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0

Scaffold

Bootstrap the base repository for a hands-on course and generate its numbered module, topic, and lab layout. This is an essential, interactive skill: it asks a few questions first, then sets up the repo. It is invocable directly and is also the skill the create-class master delegates to by name for Phase 1 (scaffold the layout). It replaces the retired scaffold-class and scaffold-module skills.

When to use

• A new course repository is empty or nearly empty and needs its base skeleton.
• You have an outline (a Markdown file with ## Module N: headings) and want the whole folder tree generated from it.
• An existing module needs numbered topic subfolders added under it.

Step 1 - Ask the questions first

Scaffold is interactive. Before creating anything, ask the user these questions in one message and wait for the answers. Offer sensible defaults so the user can accept quickly.

1. Class title. Used as the H1 of demos/readme.md and in the root CLAUDE.md.
2. Audience. One of: developer, low-code maker, business user. This shapes tone and later enrichment; capture it even though scaffolding itself is audience-neutral.
3. Modules. Either a number of modules (for example "6") or a path to an outline file (for example demos/readme.md or outline.md). If a number is given, ask for a one-line title per module, or let the user supply titles later.
4. Labs. Whether the class needs a matching labs/ folder per module (yes or no) and whether topics should be flat (one readme.md per module) or deep (numbered topic subfolders per module).

If an outline file path is given, questions 1 and 3 can be read from the file instead of asked. Confirm the parsed title and module list with the user before proceeding.

Step 2 - Create the base skeleton

Every class gets the same skeleton. Create these once, at the repo root, only if missing:

.claude/                 (skills and config live here; create the folder if absent)
demos/
├── readme.md            (H1 = class title; index of modules)
labs/
├── readme.md            (index of labs per module; only if labs are wanted)
CLAUDE.md                (project rules, from templates/CLAUDE.md; only if missing)

Never overwrite an existing .claude/, demos/, labs/, or CLAUDE.md. Skip and report each one that already exists.

Step 3 - Plan and present the TOC

Whether the modules come from an outline or from interactive answers, build the planned tree and present it as a table grouped by module. Stop and wait for the user to say yes, adjust (then iterate), or cancel. Never scaffold without confirmation.

PROPOSED SCAFFOLD

Module 01 - Fundamentals
  demos/01-fundamentals/readme.md
  demos/01-fundamentals/01-intro/readme.md        # Introduction
  demos/01-fundamentals/02-setup/readme.md        # Setup & Installation
  demos/01-fundamentals/pptx/readme.md
  labs/01-fundamentals/readme.md

Module 02 - Configure Harness
  ...

SUMMARY: 6 modules, 18 topic subfolders, 6 lab folders. Existing files are never overwritten.

Proceed? (yes / adjust / cancel)

Step 4 - Bootstrap from an outline file

When an outline file is supplied, parse it into the module plan.

1. Read the file. Extract the H1 (course title), every ## Module N: <Title> heading, and the bullet list under each heading.
2. For each module:
   • num = the N from Module N:, zero-padded to two digits. Module numbers come from the heading, not file order: ## Module 3: X always becomes 03-x even if it appears after ## Module 5: Y.
   • name = the title after the colon.
   • slug = derived from name (see slug rules below).
   • topics = the bullet list, in order.
3. For each topic:
   • topic_slug = derived from the bullet text.
   • topic_text = the original bullet text, used verbatim as the topic readme H1.
4. If the file has no ## Module N: headings, report "no modules found in source file" and fall back to the interactive flow rather than failing silently.

An outline with topic bullets implies deep depth for those modules. A module heading with no bullets stays flat (module readme.md only).

Step 5 - Create the structure (after "yes")

Flexible depth: the same skill produces both shapes. Drive depth from the answers and the outline.

• Flat module: create only demos/NN-<slug>/readme.md from templates/module-readme.md.
• Deep module: also create demos/NN-<slug>/II-<topic_slug>/readme.md for each topic at 1-based index II, with content from templates/topic-readme.md (# <topic_text>), plus a demos/NN-<slug>/pptx/readme.md slides placeholder (# Slides).

For each module:

1. Create demos/NN-<slug>/readme.md from templates/module-readme.md.
2. For a deep module, create each demos/NN-<slug>/II-<topic_slug>/readme.md and the pptx/readme.md placeholder.
3. If labs are wanted, create labs/NN-<slug>/readme.md from templates/lab-readme.md.

After all modules are processed:

4. Write or update demos/readme.md so its H1 is the class title and it indexes the modules. If the class was bootstrapped from an outline file that is not already demos/readme.md, copy the outline there (only if demos/readme.md does not already exist).
5. If labs are wanted, create labs/readme.md from templates/labs-index.md with a link to each module's lab folder.
6. If the repo root CLAUDE.md does not exist, create it from templates/CLAUDE.md.

For every file: if the target already exists, skip it and report "skipped (already exists)". Never overwrite. Create independent folders and files in parallel.

Report a one-line summary:

SCAFFOLD COMPLETE: 6 modules, 18 topics, 6 lab folders, 0 overwritten, 1 CLAUDE.md created.

Add topic subfolders under an existing module

To extend a module that already exists, take a parent module path and a list of items and create one numbered subfolder per item:

• A zero-padded numeric prefix (01-, 02-, 03-, ...), continuing from the highest existing number in the folder.
• A short 1-2 word folder slug derived from the item text.
• A readme.md inside each folder whose only content is # <original item text>.
• A pptx/ subfolder containing an empty readme.md (# Slides), for slide-bearing topics.

Example input:

parent folder: demos/01-fundamentals

Introduction
Setup & Installation
Editors
Context Engineering

Slug derivation rules

• Lowercase, hyphen-separated.
• One or two meaningful words, max.
• Strip stop words: the, and, of, with, for, to, a, an, and any repeated product name that appears in every module title.
• Prefer the most distinctive noun. Examples: "Copilot Studio Fundamentals" becomes fundamentals; "Skills & Plugins" becomes skills; "Bundling & Distributing" becomes distribution.
• When scaffolding into a repo that already has modules, match the existing slug style.

Templates

Templates live in templates/ next to this file. They use {{var}} placeholders; replace each placeholder with the parsed value when writing a file.

File	Used for
templates/module-readme.md	Demo module readme.md (H1, topic table, labs link)
templates/topic-readme.md	Demo topic readme.md (H1 only)
templates/lab-readme.md	Lab module readme.md (H1, sub-lab list)
templates/labs-index.md	Top-level labs/readme.md
templates/CLAUDE.md	Root project rules and workflow guidance

After scaffolding

Check whether the repo has a brand-voice skill by globbing .claude/skills/brand-voice-*. If none exists, note in the summary that the create-class master can bootstrap a repo-local brand-voice-* skill so later READMEs can be audited against the class house rules.

Rules

• Ask the questions first; always present the TOC and stop before creating module content.
• Never overwrite existing files, folders, or CLAUDE.md. Skip and report every collision.
• Never create files outside .claude/, demos/, labs/, or the repo root CLAUDE.md.
• No em dashes in prose; use , ; : or ().
• Mermaid node labels use "quoted<br/>labels", never \n.
• Code fences declare a language. Internal links use relative paths; anchors use #heading-name.
• Parallelize all independent file and folder creation.