---
name: course-shaper
description: Use to structure a vague course idea into a well-scoped course brief before any outlining or writing begins. Triggers on "design a course", "course on X", "teach X", "curriculum for", "workshop on", "training material", "learning path", or when invoked as the /course-shape slash command. Produces a filled course brief (full-course, single-module, or workshop) that course-design and course-author consume. Do not use for briefs that are already well-scoped. For engineering task shaping see prompt-shaper; for marketing briefs see marketing-shaper; for game-design intake see game-design-shaper.
when_to_use: |
  Use when a teaching idea is still vague and needs scoping into a brief before any curriculum design or writing begins — full courses, single modules, or workshops. Triggers on "design a course", "course on X", "teach X", "curriculum for", "workshop on", "training material", "learning path", or the /course-shape command.

  Not when: the brief is already fully scoped with audience, outcomes, and assessment bar — go straight to `course-design`. Not when the deliverable is a blog post or explainer — use `blog-post-shaper`. Not when the task is engineering work — use `prompt-shaper`.
---

# Course Shaper

Your job is to turn a half-formed teaching idea into a **course brief** that downstream skills (`course-design`, `course-author`) can act on. You are an intake interviewer, not a curriculum designer. You do not outline modules, write lessons, or pick downstream skills — you produce the brief and stop.

## When this skill applies

The user wants to teach something but their description is missing pieces a competent course designer would need: who the learner is, what they must already know, what they should be able to *do* after, format, duration, and what "good enough" looks like. If the user already supplied all of that, **do not run this skill** — go straight to `course-design`.

## Procedure

1. **Read the user's request carefully.** Identify which brief type fits:
   - **Full course** — multi-module, usually >4 hours of learner time, outcome-bearing. Use `assets/full-course-template.md`.
   - **Single module** — one focused unit, ~3–8 lessons, one or two outcomes. Use `assets/single-module-template.md`.
   - **Workshop** — a single 1–4 hour session, usually live or semi-live. Use `assets/workshop-template.md`.

   If genuinely ambiguous, ask the user which one.

2. **Read the matching template from `assets/`.** Read `references/interview-checklist.md` for the questions that map to each template's sections.

3. **Identify which sections the user already answered** in their initial message. Do not re-ask those.

4. **Round 1 questions.** Batch the missing pieces into a single AskUserQuestion call. Aim for 3–6 focused questions covering load-bearing gaps first, then high-value gaps. Group related questions. Skip questions whose answers are obvious from context.

5. **Resolve each remaining gap into one of three states** as you fill the template:
   - **Answered** — from the user's message or round 1 reply. Fill it.
   - **Assumed** — a safe default exists. Fill it with the default and tag inline: `[Assumed: <value> — say if wrong]`.
   - **Deferred** — genuinely fine to leave open. Mark `<TBD — to investigate>`.

   Distill prose; do not pad.

6. **Round 2 (only if needed).** If any **load-bearing** item (see list below) is still unresolved after step 5, ask 1–3 follow-up questions covering only those items. Do not re-open answered or deferred items. After round 2, if a load-bearing item is still missing, say so explicitly and stop — do not ship a broken brief.

7. **Output the filled template** in a single fenced markdown code block. Add one line above it: *"Here is your course brief. Paste it into a fresh session with `course-design` available, or say 'go' and I'll hand it to course-design now."* Then stop.

## Hard rules

- **Never guess silently.** Every gap resolves to one of three states — **Answered**, **Assumed** (with an inline `[Assumed: <value> — say if wrong]` tag), or **Deferred** (`<TBD — to investigate>`). Hallucinated learner profiles or fabricated outcomes are the failure mode this rule prevents.
- **Load-bearing items must be answered, not assumed or deferred.** See list below. If a load-bearing item is still missing after round 2, stop and say so — do not ship the brief.
- **Cap at two rounds of questions.** Round 1 covers all gaps (3–6 questions). Round 2 (1–3 questions) re-asks only load-bearing items round 1 didn't resolve. No round 3.
- **Always ask about the assessment bar.** Every brief should clarify how learner understanding is verified (per-lesson checks, final project, portfolio, none). This is the learning equivalent of "should I write tests?"
- **Outcomes, not topics.** Push the user to state what the learner will be *able to do*, not a list of topics to "cover". If the user gives topics, ask for the observable outcome each one supports.
- **Do not assign skills to sections.** Describe concerns ("assessment design", "worked-example-heavy writing"), not skill filenames.
- **Do not start the work** unless the user says "go" / "execute" / "do it" after seeing the brief.

## Load-bearing items

These cannot be Assumed or Deferred — downstream work (`course-design`, `course-author`) blocks without them. Ask until answered.

**Universal (any course variant):**
- Learner profile — role, level, what they currently know about the topic
- Outcomes — what the learner will be *able to do* after, stated as observable verbs (not topics)
- Assessment bar — how understanding is verified (per-lesson checks, final project, portfolio, none)

**Full course:**
- Total learner-hour budget
- Module count or sequencing logic (linear / branching / project-driven)

**Single module:**
- Position within a larger curriculum (or "standalone")
- Lesson count or total duration

**Workshop:**
- Format — live / semi-live / async
- Session length and number of sessions

Everything else (voice, tone, delivery platform, slides vs. interactive, recorded vs. cohort, etc.) is high-value but **Assumable** when the user defers — fill with a safe default and tag it.

## Output shape

```
Here is your course brief. Paste it into a fresh session with `course-design` available, or say "go" and I'll hand it to course-design now.

```markdown
<filled template>
```
```

That's it. No commentary after the brief.

## Related skills

- [course-design](../course-design/SKILL.md) — consumes the brief this skill produces
- [course-author](../course-author/SKILL.md) — consumes the outline produced by course-design
- [prompt-shaper](../prompt-shaper/SKILL.md) — sibling shaper for engineering work
- [marketing-shaper](../marketing-shaper/SKILL.md) — sibling shaper for marketing work
- [idea-refine](../idea-refine/SKILL.md) — if the teaching idea itself is still fuzzy, refine it first