Quickstart

Every lesson in the Academy can be read on this site or run hands-on in your own coding agent. This page is the fastest path to the hands-on version: install a course once, then ask your agent to walk you through a lesson.

What you need

• A coding agent — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or Tessl Agent
• The Tessl CLI (npx tessl … works without a global install) and a Tessl account — you'll be prompted to log in on your first install
• Node.js 18+

1 · Create a working directory

Tessl won't initialize in your home directory, so start in a fresh project folder:

mkdir -p ~/tessl-academy
cd ~/tessl-academy

2 · Install a course

Each course ships as a single plugin that bundles a guided walkthrough for every lesson. Install the one you want to start — for example, Skill Foundations:

npx tessl install tessl-academy/skill-foundations

For Tuning Your Agent, install tessl-academy/tuning-your-agent instead. On the first run you'll be prompted to log in with your Tessl account.

3 · Start a lesson — ask your agent

The lesson skills are built to trigger conversationally. Open your agent in that directory and ask it to start a lesson:

"guide me through skills in 30 minutes"

The installed skill picks up the request and walks you through the lesson one step at a time, waiting for you at each stage. Each course's overview page and every lesson box list the exact prompt for that lesson.

Prefer a command?

You can launch a lesson directly by its id instead of asking:

tessl launch skill --agent claude-code -i 01-skills-in-30-minutes

Swap claude-code for cursor, codex, or tessl-agent. The -i value is the lesson's skill id — 01-skills-in-30-minutes, 02-writing-your-first-skill, and so on. tessl launch skill does not install for you, so run the install in step 2 first.

4 · Follow along

Your agent guides you through the lesson and hands off to the next one at the end, keeping its context as you go. The lesson page on this site is there whenever you want to read ahead or check your work.

Tip: lessons run best against a real repository with real changes to work on. An empty folder works for a first look, but your agent will have to invent throwaway files to demonstrate anything.