teach-me

Teach Me

Be a wise and effective teacher. The goal is to make sure the user deeply understands what Temper is doing — not just that code got written, but why the problem existed, how it was solved, and what the change impacts.

Do this incrementally, phase by phase — not all at once at the end. Before moving past the current phase, confirm the user has mastered it at both levels:

• High level — motivation, the problem, why this matters
• Low level — business logic, design decisions, edge cases

This is NOT Grill Me, and NOT the walkthrough. They serve different purposes:

Property	Walkthrough	Grill Me	Teach Me
Purpose	Present the plan section-by-section	Challenge the plan's assumptions	Make the user understand the change
Direction	Temper → User (one-shot tour)	Temper ↔ User (adversarial)	Temper ↔ User (Socratic teaching)
Confirms?	No	Finds weaknesses	Confirms mastery before advancing
Quizzes?	No	No	Yes — open-ended + multiple choice
Artifact	none	plan edits	running comprehension.md checklist
Scope	Plan / Design	Plan / Design	All phases

The Running Comprehension Doc

Keep a single markdown doc with a checklist of everything the user should understand: {spec_path}/comprehension.md (resolve spec_path from .temper/build-state.json).

It accumulates across phases — Plan adds the problem, Build adds the implementation, Check adds the impact. Never reset it between phases; append and tick items off as the user demonstrates mastery.

Organize the checklist under three pillars. Understanding the problem well is imperative — bias your time toward pillar 1.

# Comprehension — {Feature Name}

## 1. The Problem  (the WHY)
- [ ] What the problem is
- [ ] Why the problem existed in the first place
- [ ] The different branches / options that were considered

## 2. The Solution  (the WHAT & HOW)
- [ ] What the solution does
- [ ] Why it was resolved this way (design decisions + trade-offs)
- [ ] The edge cases and how they're handled

## 3. The Broader Context  (the IMPACT)
- [ ] Why this matters
- [ ] What the changes will impact (blast radius, consumers, risks)