assignment-creation

name	assignment-creation
description	Create and maintain assignment pages (problem sets, homework, project milestones) under special/academia/<INSTITUTION>/<COURSE>/assignments/.

Assignment creation

Use this skill when creating new assignment pages or adding assignment-related content (problem sets, homework, project milestones, lab rounds, deliverable pages) to course knowledge bases under special/academia/.

Flashcards and other generated content are rebuilt automatically by the build system; do not run init generate manually.

For general academic-note conventions (frontmatter, topic notes, lecture content, flashcards, LaTeX), see the academic-notes skill.

Guiding principle: follow existing conventions

Before creating a new assignment page, examine 1–3 existing assignment pages in the same course to identify the conventions already in use. Match the existing style unless there is a compelling reason to deviate. Pay particular attention to:

• Naming — folder naming (problem set 1 vs ps1 vs homework 1 vs hw1), file naming, heading capitalization
• Frontmatter — alias combinations (which institution/course abbreviations), tag path patterns, tag categories
• Metadata — which fields are included, their order, formatting style
• Description — verbatim Canvas wording vs summarized, how colors and formatting are preserved
• Section structure — section ordering, which sections are present or absent, heading level conventions
• Companion pages — which companion pages exist (lab.md, prelab.md, etc.), how they are structured
• Submission and solution — format, level of detail, which artifacts are tracked and how

Consistency across assignments in the same course makes the knowledgebase more predictable to navigate.

Directory structure

Each course with assignments should have an assignments/ folder under the course root. The top-level assignments/index.md lists all assignments.

Each assignment lives in its own subfolder:

assignments/
├── index.md                                    # lists all assignments
└── <assignment-name>/
    ├── index.md                                # assignment page
    ├── attachments/                            # prompt PDFs, data files, images
    ├── submission/                             # submitted work (PDFs, source files)
    ├── solution/                               # official or self-made solutions
    └── submission.yml                          # Canvas export metadata (optional)

Common naming patterns:

• Problem sets: problem set 1/, problem set 2/
• Homework: homework 1/, homework 2/
• Project milestones: milestone 1/, milestone 2/

Creating a new assignment

Batch creation workflow: When creating multiple assignments in one pass (e.g., PS2–PS11), follow this order to minimize rework:

0. Populate artifacts from source files — if a course source directory exists (e.g., .course_sources/), copy all artifacts (solution PDFs, submission PDFs, Apple Notes markdown, prompt PDFs, images) into each assignment folder in batch before writing index.md files. See the Source file management section below.
1. Extract submission.yml from Canvas HTMLs — see the Submission metadata file section below for how to drive convert_canvas_submission.py in batch. Do this after step 0 and before step 1, since the YAML feeds into verification later.
2. Extract all Canvas data upfront — parse every Canvas HTML page and record its metadata (due dates, points, submission type, description text, update announcements, PDF filenames) in one batch.
3. Create all assignment files — write each index.md using the extracted data.
4. Update all indexes — update assignments/index.md and the course root index.md in a single pass.
5. Batch-validate — run bun run check:md --no-globs <all files> and verify each against its Canvas source.

Steps 0 and 2 are independent and can be parallelized across assignments using shell loops.

This avoids the inefficiency of creating one assignment, discovering a pattern change, and having to retroactively fix earlier ones.

1. Prerequisites

Before creating an assignment page, ensure you have:

• Existing assignments in the same course to use as style references. Examine their naming, frontmatter, metadata, section ordering, and companion pages to match conventions (see the guiding principle above).
• The course root directory and index.md already exist.
• The Canvas HTML source of the assignment, typically saved in a .course_sources/ or a similar course-specific source directory. Search for the assignment by name in the Canvas HTML exports.
• Any attachments (prompt PDFs, data files, images) from the Canvas assignment page.

Critical: Canvas-first data source. All metadata (due dates, points, submission type, description text, PDF filenames, update announcements, color styling) MUST be extracted from the actual Canvas HTML page. Never fabricate or guess these values — the user will catch and demand fixes. If the Canvas HTML is unavailable, ask the user to provide it before proceeding.

2. Set up the directory structure

Create the assignment directory and subdirectories:

mkdir -p assignments/<assignment-name>/{attachments,submission,solution}

3. Create the assignment index.md

The assignment's index.md follows a specific structure with these components in order:

1. YAML frontmatter with aliases and tags
2. Heading and course line
3. Metadata block (between --- separators): Canvas-derived title, due date, points, submitting type, etc.
4. Description prose (optional): verbatim Canvas wording with formatting preserved
5. Attachment links (optional): inline PDF/data links
6. ## attachments: file list of assignment prompt materials
7. ## submission: submitted work (PDF, source markdown, metadata)
8. ## solution: official or self-made solution

YAML frontmatter

Use exhaustive alias combinations following the course pattern:

---
aliases:
  - HKUST MATH 2431 PS1
  - HKUST MATH 2431 problem set 1
  - HKUST MATH2431 PS1
  - HKUST MATH2431 problem set 1
  - MATH 2431 PS1
  - MATH 2431 problem set 1
tags:
  - date/2026/02/13 # due date
  - flashcard/active/special/academia/HKUST/MATH_2431/assignments/problem_set_1
  - language/in/English
---

The aliases should cover all reasonable combinations of:

• Institution abbreviation + course code + assignment name
• Course code alone + assignment name
• Short form (PS1, HW1) and long form (problem set 1, homework 1)
• The tag path uses underscore-normalized segments matching the filesystem path.

Metadata block

After the heading, separate metadata with --- lines:

# problem set 1

- HKUST MATH 2431

---

- title: Problem Set 1
- due: 2026-02-13T13:30:00+08:00
- points: 8
- submitting: a text entry box or a file upload

Normalize timestamps to ISO 8601 with timezone. For assignments with availability windows, use a range: available: 2025-09-25T00:00:00+08:00/2025-10-03T23:59:59+08:00, P8DT23H59M59S.

Description formatting

Reproduce Canvas HTML verbatim, preserving formatting with Markdown and inline <span style> for colors:

---

Problem Set 1, due on <span style="color: #0e68b3">**Friday 13/02/2026, until 13:30 (1:30 PM)**</span> Hong Kong Time (UTC +8), to be uploaded on Canvas <span style="color: #e62429">**(note the updated deadline)**</span>.

**<span style="color: #e62429">Update (05/02/2026, 10:30 AM): Question 4 updated, and mandatory problem changed from 4 to 3</span>**; if you already submitted your solutions, Question 4 will be graded **or** Question 3 in case you update your solution.

[PS1-v4.pdf](attachments/PS1-v4.pdf)

Rules:

• Keep visible Canvas wording verbatim.
• Preserve color with <span style> tags.
• Use Markdown for bold, italics, links, paragraphing, and line breaks.
• Keep inline prose dates and times as-is (the normalized metadata block above carries the machine-readable equivalents).

Deadline extension text: Canvas often adds extension notices in colored span tags. Reproduce them exactly, including the exact phrasing and color. Common patterns seen in practice:

(Note: This assignment deadline has been extended)

<span style="color: #e62429">**(note the extended deadline)**</span>

<span style="color: #e62429">**(Attention: Extended deadline!)**</span>

Update announcements: Canvas pages may have inline update notices (e.g., "Small clarification on Problem 1", "Question 4 updated"). Preserve both the heading and body verbatim, with the same color and bold styling:

**<span style="color: #e62429">Update (04/03/2026, 10:20 PM): Small clarification on Problem 1</span>**

**<span style="color: #e62429">Update (16/03/2026, 12:15 PM): Question 4 updated</span>**; if you already
submitted your solutions, the new version is optional.

Attachments section

List the assignment prompt files with links:

## attachments

- [`PS1-v4.pdf`](attachments/PS1-v4.pdf)

PDF display name vs actual file link: When the on-disk file has a versioned name (e.g., PS7-3.pdf, PS10-1.pdf) but Canvas references a base name (PS7.pdf, PS10.pdf), display the Canvas name while linking to the actual file. This keeps the page consistent with what students see on Canvas while still serving the correct file:

[PS7.pdf](attachments/PS7-3.pdf)

## attachments

- [`PS7.pdf`](attachments/PS7-3.pdf)

Submission section

Record submitted work. This can include:

• The submitted PDF
• The source file (e.g., Apple Notes markdown export)
• submission.yml with Canvas export metadata

## submission

- submission: [`HKUST MATH 2431 - problem set 1.pdf`](submission/HKUST%20MATH%202431%20-%20problem%20set%201.pdf)
  - metadata: [`submission.yml`](submission.yml)
  - source: [`HKUST MATH 2431 problem set 1.md`](submission/HKUST%20MATH%202431%20problem%20set%201.md)

When an answer list is available (e.g., quizzes with short answers), include the numbered list:

## submission

1. ...
2. ...

When the submission section needs archived-filename provenance or similar metadata, keep that extra structure only in ## submission, for example - file: [submission.pdf](submission.pdf) followed by nested metadata bullets such as - filename: ....

When the task still wants the public page to preserve the normal artifact routes, keep standard relative links in public ## submission / ## solution sections as if the files were colocated, for example [submission.pdf](submission.pdf) or [HW1_Sol.pdf](solution/HW1_Sol.pdf). Do not rewrite those links to private/ paths in the public note.

Submission metadata file

The submission.yml file stores Canvas export metadata. Its structure:

assignment:
  comments: {}
  content: ""
  grade:
    entered: 8
    graded anonymously: false
    possible: 8
  id: 425065
  properties:
    due: 2026-02-13 13:30:00-07:00
    points: 8
    submitting:
      - a text entry box or a file upload
  submissions:
    - datetime: 2026-02-11 13:26:00-07:00
      id: -1
  title: Problem Set 1
course:
  id: 69402
  name: MATH2431

Extract this from the Canvas assignment HTML page using the convert_canvas_submission.py tool, which reads a SingleFile-saved HTML and writes the YAML structure to stderr.

Tool characteristics:

• Interactive by design — no CLI arguments. It calls input("HTML file? ") and expects the file path on stdin, then writes the YAML document to stderr.
• Single-file only — one invocation per assignment page.
• Input — a SingleFile (or equivalent full-page) HTML export of the Canvas assignment page. The HTML must contain the Canvas URL in a comment (`url: ...`) and a saved-date comment; otherwise the tool silently exits with code 1.
• Output — a single YAML mapping to stderr (exit code 0 on success).

Driving the tool non-interactively:

Use a here-string to supply the file path on stdin and redirect stderr to capture the YAML:

uv run -m scripts.special.convert_canvas_submission \
  <<< "/path/to/Canvas HTML.html" \
  2> submission.yml

Canvas HTML filenames may be inconsistent — the same course can have mixed naming conventions (e.g., "HKUST Canvas - Problem Set N …" for some assignments and "Problem Set N …" for others). Always ls the source directory to discover the actual filenames before writing loops.

Batch extraction loop:

# Discover actual filenames first
ls <source-dir>/

# Then adapt the loop to the naming convention found
for N in $(seq <first> <last>); do
  html_path=$(find <source-dir> -maxdepth 1 -name "*Problem Set $N*" -type f)
  if [ -n "$html_path" ]; then
    uv run -m scripts.special.convert_canvas_submission \
      <<< "$html_path" \
      2> "assignments/problem set $N/submission.yml"
  fi
done

Comment author redaction: After saving submission.yml, replace every author: value (which contains a real name) with '[redacted]' to protect privacy:

sed -i '' "s/author: .*/author: '[redacted]'/" assignments/problem\ set\ */submission.yml

This redacts grader/comment author names while preserving the rest of the YAML structure. Run this after extracting all files.

Preserve the YAML output as-is — do not edit the extracted file (except for the author redaction above).

Markdown submission source preservation

Some submissions are written as Markdown files. Judge whether the file is an Apple Notes export (needs special handling) or regular Markdown.

Judging if a file is an Apple Notes markdown export:

The file may already have our modifications (attachment path rewrites, suppression comments at top). Look past those and examine the body.

A file is likely from Apple Notes if it has one or more of:

• UUID attachment paths — Image references match (Attachments|../attachments)/<UUID>.<ext> (e.g., Attachments/A1B2C3D4-...png). Most reliable indicator.
• No YAML frontmatter — The body starts directly with content.
• Apple formatting quirks — Unusual heading styles or list spacing characteristic of Apple Notes output.

A file is not an Apple Notes export if it has YAML frontmatter, flashcard/pytextgen markup, or consistently manual formatting throughout.

If unsure, treat as regular Markdown (no path rewrites, no suppression comments). The user can correct.

For Apple Notes markdown exports:

1. Copy into submission/ as "<Course Name> problem set N.md" (source may use hyphens; normalize to no hyphens).
2. Only make these changes:
   • Rewrite image paths Attachments/XXX.ext → ../attachments/XXX.ext.
   • Add file-level markdownlint and validator suppression comments at the very top.
3. Do NOT make other changes. Preserve spelling, formatting, images, and structure exactly. Edit in Apple Notes and re-export if needed.

For regular Markdown submissions:

Copy as-is. Do not add suppression comments or rewrite attachment paths.

Solution section

Link to the solution file:

## solution

- [`SL1.pdf`](solution/SL1.pdf)

4. Add attachments

Place all assignment prompt files (PDFs, data CSVs, images) in the attachments/ directory. Keep filenames as-is from the source.

When an Apple Notes markdown submission (identified using the criteria in Markdown submission source preservation) embeds HEIC, PNG, or other image formats, also place those images in attachments/ and update the attachment paths as described in that section.

5. Update assignments/index.md

The top-level assignments/index.md lists all assignments. Add a new child link for the new assignment:

---
aliases:
  - HKUST MATH 2431 assignment
  - HKUST MATH 2431 assignments
  - HKUST MATH2431 assignment
  - HKUST MATH2431 assignments
tags:
  - flashcard/active/special/academia/HKUST/MATH_2431/assignments
  - function/index
  - language/in/English
---

# index

- HKUST MATH 2431

## children

- [problem set 1](problem%20set%201/index.md)

6. Update course index.md

Add an - assignment: entry in the course's index.md under the last lecture entry on or before the due date. Place it after - topic: and - status::

## week N lecture

- datetime: 2026-02-11T13:30:00+08:00/2026-02-11T14:50:00+08:00
- topic: ...
- assignment: [problem set 1](assignments/problem%20set%201/index.md)

If the lecture already has a topic: and optional status:, add assignment: after them.

7. Verify against Canvas sources

After creating or updating assignment pages, systematically verify each one against its Canvas HTML source. Check these fields:

• Due date — ISO 8601 timestamp matches Canvas, including timezone
• Points — exact integer or float
• Submission type — matches Canvas wording (e.g., "a text entry box or a file upload")
• Description body — verbatim match, including all update announcements and colored span tags
• PDF filenames — display name matches Canvas; link target matches on-disk file
• Metadata block — title, due date, points, submitting all present
• submission.yml presence — exists and is non-empty
• assignment.id match — the extracted id field matches the known Canvas assignment ID for that page. This catches cases where the wrong HTML file was used. Known IDs from Canvas can be read from the url: https://<host>/courses/<course_id>/assignments/<assign_id> comment in the source HTML.

If the course has multiple assignments, verify them all in one pass and report any discrepancies to the user for resolution.

8. Source file management

When the course has a source directory (e.g., .course_sources/), populate the assignment folder from source files. Copy (do not symlink) files — this keeps the archive self-contained and stable even if cleaned up later.

There is no fixed source hierarchy. Every course source directory is organized differently (by the user's personal convention, LMS export format, or ad-hoc collection). The examples below illustrate the kind of work involved, not a structure to expect in any other course. Always start by exploring the actual source directory with ls/tree/find to discover its real layout before writing copy commands.

To populate an assignment folder, you typically need to locate and copy these artifact types wherever they happen to live in the source tree:

Solution files

Locate solution PDFs somewhere in the source tree (e.g., in a questions/ subdirectory) and copy:

cp <path-in-source>/SL{N}.pdf assignments/problem\ set\ {N}/solution/

Submission PDFs

Find the submission PDF (often named after the course and assignment) and copy it into the assignment's submission/ folder:

cp <path-in-source>/"Course Name - problem set N.pdf" \
   assignments/problem\ set\ {N}/submission/

Markdown submission source (with path rewrites)

Judge per Markdown submission source preservation. If Apple Notes: detect naming pattern, create with suppression header and path rewrites, copy referenced UUID-named images from source attachments. Otherwise copy as-is.

A shell pipeline illustrating the process (paths are specific to one source layout; adapt to the actual layout):

# Detect source file name (may be with or without hyphen)
if [ -f "$SOURCES/Course Name problem set N.md" ]; then
  SRC="$SOURCES/Course Name problem set N.md"
else
  SRC="$SOURCES/Course Name - problem set N.md"
fi
DST="$PS_DIR/submission/Course Name problem set N.md"

# Write suppression header + rewritten content
# (suppressions: file-level markdownlint and validator comments)
echo '<!-- markdownlint-disable ... -->' > "$DST"
# Add validator suppression comment too
echo '<!-- check: ignore-file[...]: Apple Notes markdown — do not modify -->' >> "$DST"
sed 's|Attachments/|../attachments/|g' "$SRC" >> "$DST"

# Copy all UUID-named image files referenced in the source
grep -o '[A-F0-9]\{8\}-[A-F0-9]\{4\}-[A-F0-9]\{4\}-[A-F0-9]\{4\}-[A-F0-9]\{12\}\.[a-z]*' "$SRC" \
  | while read -r uuid_file; do
      cp "$ATTACHMENTS_SRC/$uuid_file" "$PS_DIR/attachments/"
    done

Assignment prompt PDFs

Find prompt PDFs in the source tree and copy into attachments/:

cp <path-in-source>/PS{N}*.pdf assignments/problem\ set\ {N}/attachments/

When the on-disk file is versioned (e.g., PS7-3.pdf) but Canvas references a base name (PS7.pdf), apply the display-vs-link naming convention.

Submission metadata

If a submission.yml already exists somewhere in the source (e.g., from a previous Canvas export extraction), copy it into the assignment folder. Otherwise, extract it from the Canvas HTML file using convert_canvas_submission.py. See the Submission metadata file section for the invocation pattern (here-string for stdin, stderr redirect for output).

Batch copy workflow

When populating multiple assignments at once from a shared source directory, first explore the source layout thoroughly, then combine copy operations into loops:

# Explore source layout first
tree <source> -L 3

# Then adapt loops to the actual layout
for N in $(seq <first> <last>); do
  cp <source>/<path-to-solution-files> assignments/problem\ set\ $N/solution/
done

Validate each loop's output before proceeding to the next.

Assignment-style leaf index pages

Some leaf folders represent a single Canvas or LMS assignment-like artifact, such as a lab round, homework, project milestone, or similar deliverable page with local attachments. Canvas quizzes are the main exception: keep quiz notes in questions/quiz N.md (and the mirrored private quiz file when archived) rather than in assignments/online quiz N/index.md.

Follow existing conventions — before creating a leaf index page, check an existing leaf index from the same course for section ordering, metadata style, and companion page patterns. The rules below describe the standard form, but the course may have established variations (e.g., extra sections, different heading levels) that should be preserved for consistency.

Use these rules when the source is a Canvas assignment HTML page:

• Keep the visible Canvas wording verbatim in the description body.
• Preserve color with <span style> and use Markdown for bold, italics, links, paragraphing, and line breaks.
• Treat the Canvas title header as metadata inside ## description, not as a Markdown heading. The first property in that section should be exactly - title: <Canvas title header verbatim>.
• Normalize any Canvas-derived metadata value that contains a date, datetime, or duration into ISO 8601. Use timezone-aware ISO datetimes for point events such as Due or locked at; use an ISO datetime range and append , <ISO duration> when both endpoints are known; use an ISO duration for pure durations. If only the closing endpoint is known, prefer a key such as - Available until: 2026-04-09T13:30:59+08:00 rather than a human-readable phrase. Canvas start timestamps should use seconds :00; Canvas end timestamps should use seconds :59.
• Apply that normalization to Canvas metadata fields only, not to the ordinary prose body of ## description. Keep description prose verbatim even when it contains human-readable dates or times, such as This assignment was locked Mar 5 at 1:30pm. or colored Due on notice text copied from Canvas. The normalized metadata bullets should carry the machine-readable timing, while the surrounding Canvas wording stays as originally shown.
• For these assignment-style leaf indexes, use this section order: index metadata (with no extra --- after the parent line), ## children, ## description, ## attachments, ## submission, and ## solution.
• Omit generic ## logistics and ## overview sections on these pages.
• Include an explicit attachments list pointing to the local attachments/ files. Apply the same display-vs-link convention: display the Canvas PDF name but link to the actual on-disk file if they differ.
• Leave ## submission and ## solution empty until actual repository content is provided.
• If the user wants only the statement or public handouts exposed publicly, keep those files in the public attachments/ folder and move only submission or solution artifacts into the mirrored private/ subtree.
• When a solution artifact exists, format the same way as : use a plain markdown file list such as .

When an assignment-style leaf folder also has companion pages such as lab.md, prelab.md, submission.md, or similar pages:

• Let index.md own the Canvas wording, logistics, availability, file types, and attachments list.
• Use the companion pages for new knowledge points, worked cases, implementation pitfalls, or interpretation habits that are specific to the assignment family.
• Keep companion-page prose and flashcards about pure knowledge only. Avoid workflow checklists, student expectations, assessment framing, or other logistics-like prose in lab.md, prelab.md, and similar pages.
• Do not embed course-specific file references (filenames, submission scripts, temporary handout names, or exported worksheet names) in durable companion- page prose unless the file itself is the subject. Keep those references in archive metadata, attachments/, or submission records instead.
• When the source material includes concrete programming work such as MATLAB, companion pages should also preserve the local implementation knowledge: short code idioms, function choices, indexing patterns, plotting habits, and data-representation details that make the assignment's subject matter operational. Prefer a few concise snippets over full script dumps.
• For code-centered flashcards in companion pages, keep enough local context in the prompt to make the card standalone: include the relevant MATLAB fragment, variable roles, or input-output relationship instead of asking only a short generic question about a function name.
• When a code-centered flashcard still feels too abstract, also put the local given on the left-hand side: the specific waveform, filter, index formula, or before/after workflow that the student is supposed to remember.
• When the user asks for "more context," prefer adding that context to the left-hand side prompt itself rather than only expanding the answer. The question should carry the local givens before the separator.
• Avoid meta-summary sections whose main job is to describe what the note covers. Companion pages should read like normal subject-matter notes: start with the content itself, and use ordinary reference sentences when routing to durable topic notes.
• Keep prelab pages restricted to preparation-stage knowledge and setup habits. Move solved assignment-specific values, extracted peaks, chosen cutoffs, reconstructed formulas, and post-hoc response interpretation into lab.md instead of leaving those results in prelab.md.
• If a concept already has a durable topic note, link to that note instead of re-teaching the theory in the companion page.
• Do not add flashcards for theory that is already covered in the topic note; keep companion-page flashcards focused on page-specific knowledge or worked cases.

Course index linkage

When updating the course index.md, place assignments/ immediately after ## children and before session entries when the course has an assignments section. This order applies to course-root index.md, not to the assignment-specific assignments/index.md.

Example course index child order:

## children

- [AGENTS](AGENTS.md)
- [assignments](assignments/index.md)
- [questions/](questions/index.md)
- [topic 1](topic%201.md)
- ...

Flashcards

Assignment creation rarely involves creating flashcards in the assignment pages themselves. Flashcards for solution techniques and problem-solving methods belong in the relevant topic notes or question pages. Assignment index pages are reference pages, not learning pages.

Related skills

• academic-notes — Course note structure, frontmatter, topic notes, lecture content, LaTeX conventions, quizzes, and general academic note-taking workflow.