How to Use the Built-In Agent Skill `/find-your-level` in AI Engineering From Scratch

The /find-your-level skill in the rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch repository is a placement quiz that runs inside Claude to assess your current knowledge and recommend the optimal starting phase with an estimated time commitment.

The AI Engineering From Scratch curriculum includes pre-built Claude agent skills that extend the assistant with curriculum-specific commands. These built-in agent skills are stored in the repository's .claude/skills/ directory and can be invoked via slash commands to automate common learning tasks. One of the most important is /find-your-level, which eliminates guesswork about where to begin by evaluating your existing expertise through a short interactive assessment.

What Is the /find-your-level Skill?

The /find-your-level skill is a placement-quiz agent designed to route learners to the correct entry point in the curriculum. When invoked, it conducts a ten-question assessment that maps your answers to a suitable starting phase. According to the source code in .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md, the skill returns a personalized learning path that includes the recommended phase number, topic name, and estimated completion hours.

Where the Skill Is Defined

Each Claude skill in this repository is self-contained within a dedicated directory under .claude/skills/. The placement quiz logic resides in:

• .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md – Contains the skill manifest, trigger patterns, and the LLM prompt that implements the Q&A behavior and scoring rubric.

The SKILL.md file declares the slash command trigger /find-your-level and defines the conversation flow that Claude uses to assess your level.

Installing the Skill

The repository handles skill registration automatically. The first time you attempt to use any curriculum skill, the helper script scripts/install_skills.py copies the skill definitions into Claude's personal skill store or registers them via the Claude API.

To manually install all skills (including /find-your-level), run:

python3 scripts/install_skills.py

This one-time setup ensures that Claude recognizes the slash commands and loads the appropriate prompts from the .claude/skills/ directory.

How to Invoke the Skill

Once installed, you can trigger the placement quiz through two primary methods: interactive chat or programmatic execution.

Interactive Chat Usage

The standard way to use this built-in agent skill is to type the slash command directly into any Claude chat session where the curriculum skills are loaded:

/find-your-level

Claude recognizes the leading slash, loads the find-your-level skill definition from .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md, and initiates the embedded prompt. The interaction proceeds as follows:

1. Claude asks ten quick questions to gauge your current knowledge of Python, machine learning, and deep learning concepts.
2. It maps your responses to a specific phase in the curriculum (e.g., Phase 07 – Transformers).
3. It returns a formatted recommendation with estimated hours and a direct link to the first lesson.

Example output:

Based on your answers you should start at Phase 07 – Transformers.
Estimated time to complete: ≈ 12 hours.
Here’s the link to the first lesson: phases/07-transformers/01-attention

Programmatic Invocation

For advanced automation, you can invoke the skill via the Claude CLI and capture the structured output. This requires the Claude CLI to be installed and authenticated:

import subprocess
import json

# Run the placement quiz via CLI and capture JSON output

result = subprocess.check_output(['claude', 'run', '/find-your-level'])
data = json.loads(result)

print(f"Recommended phase: {data['phase']}")
print(f"Estimated hours: {data['hours']}")

You can then use this data to automate navigation. For example, to open the recommended lesson in your browser:

import webbrowser

phase = data['phase'].replace(' ', '-').lower()
lesson = "01-attention"  # Default first lesson per phase

url = f"https://github.com/rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch/tree/main/phases/{phase}/{lesson}"
webbrowser.open(url)

Understanding the Results

The skill returns two critical pieces of metadata:

• Phase Recommendation: A specific phase number and topic (e.g., "Phase 03 – PyTorch Basics") derived from your quiz answers.
• Time Estimate: The approximate hours required to complete that phase and all subsequent prerequisite material.

Because the skill is self-contained in .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md, no additional code changes are required to interpret results. The output is designed to be copied directly into the curriculum's Roadmap or fed into scripts/lesson_run.py to jump to the suggested starting point.

Summary

• The /find-your-level skill is defined in .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md and implements a ten-question placement quiz.
• Run scripts/install_skills.py to register the skill with Claude (automatic on first use).
• Invoke the skill interactively by typing /find-your-level in any Claude chat session with curriculum skills loaded.
• The skill returns a JSON or formatted text response containing the recommended phase and estimated completion time.
• Advanced users can call the skill programmatically via the Claude CLI to automate curriculum navigation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I install the /find-your-level skill before my first use?

You typically do not need to install it manually. The first time you invoke any curriculum skill, scripts/install_skills.py runs automatically to copy the skill definitions from .claude/skills/ into Claude's personal skill store. However, you can manually run python3 scripts/install_skills.py if you want to pre-register all skills before starting.

What criteria does the placement quiz use to determine my starting level?

According to the skill definition in .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md, the quiz asks ten questions covering your familiarity with Python programming, machine learning fundamentals, deep learning frameworks, and specific architectures like transformers. Your answers map to a phase in the curriculum that assumes the knowledge you already possess.

Can I run the skill programmatically instead of through the chat interface?

Yes. Advanced learners can invoke the skill via the Claude CLI using the command claude run /find-your-level and capture the JSON output for scripting purposes. This allows you to automate lesson selection by parsing the returned phase and hours data, as demonstrated in the programmatic invocation examples.

Where is the skill definition stored in the repository?

The core logic and prompt for the placement quiz reside in .claude/skills/find-your-level/SKILL.md. This file contains the LLM prompt that drives the ten-question assessment and determines the phase mapping, making the skill self-contained and portable across different Claude installations.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}