Jane Street Agent Skills
The socratic-tutor skill turns an agent into a strict tutor: a diagnostic, a skill map with levels 0-5 and a final assessment
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- MIT
Install
- Works in
In your terminal, with SkillFoxx CLI
npx skillfoxx add skills/jane-street-agent-skillsDetects the agents on your machine, shows the access level and pins the version.
Other ways to install
Access and checks
How we reviewMinimal accessThe tool runs nothing and makes no network calls.
- The skill is a text instruction and runs nothing
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
The Jane Street repository collects skills for AI agents and chatbots. It currently holds one skill, `socratic-tutor`: the agent teaches a chosen topic by the Socratic method, asking one question at a time instead of lecturing. A session starts with a diagnostic of 3-5 questions. The topic is split into 4-10 subskills, progress on each is tracked from 0 to 5 and shown as a text map. Reasoning questions, spaced review and a final assessment follow. If the user only wants an explanation, the skill stays off.
Who it is for. Learners who pick up a new topic and want the agent to drill them with questions instead of retelling a textbook.
Good fit when
- Before an interview you want to check how well an algorithms section has stuck.
- A new programming language is learned from scratch and topic order matters.
- The request sounds like "teach me", "drill me" or "quiz me".
- Knowledge of a topic is uneven and a map of strong and weak spots helps.
- Review is spread over several days and the agent has to return to weak subtopics.
Not a fit when
- You need a quick answer to a one-off question such as "what is X".
- A long session would not fit the current chat context.
- You want notes or a ready lecture rather than a dialogue.
Example request
Teach me Rust pointer basics with the Socratic method: diagnostic first, then the skill map.Limitations
The skill runs a chat dialogue only: it does not keep progress across separate conversations unless the agent has its own memory. The skill map is drawn with characters, and in a plain chatbot the text has to be pasted into a system prompt by hand. Question quality depends on the model and how well it knows the topic. No other skills are published in the repository today. A session is slower than a normal answer because questions arrive one at a time. For topics without settled terminology the questions come out less precise.
How to disable. Delete the `socratic-tutor` folder from the agent's skills directory. In a plain chatbot remove the pasted text from the system prompt.
FAQ
How do I install the skill?
Copy the `socratic-tutor` folder into the skills directory of an agent that understands `SKILL.md`. Then ask: "teach me X".
Can I use it without an agent, in a plain chatbot?
Yes. Paste the text of `SKILL.md` into the chat or the system prompt, then say what you want to learn.
What if I only want an answer?
The skill does not trigger on a one-off question like "explain X". When the request is unclear, the agent first asks whether to teach or answer.
How does the scale work?
From 0, never heard of it, to 5, able to teach others and handle edge cases. The map refreshes after each level change.
What else is in the repository?
Only `socratic-tutor` today: the README skill list has a single entry.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
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README in short
Each skill is a folder with a `SKILL.md`. For a format-aware agent the folder is copied into the skills directory, for a chatbot the text is pasted into the chat.