LearnLocal

Offline terminal-based programming tutorials. Like vimtutor, for any language.

The Problem

Most programming tutorials require a browser, an account, and a constant internet connection. You create yet another login, wait for a cloud IDE to spin up, and hope your Wi-Fi holds. If you're on a train, a plane, or just behind a slow connection — you're stuck.

The Solution

LearnLocal runs entirely in your terminal, entirely offline. Install it, pick a course, and start coding. No sign-up, no browser, no cloud. Your code never leaves your machine.

learnlocal

That's it. You're learning.

Features

• 10 courses, 500+ exercises — from C++ to AI to production debugging
• Fully offline — no internet required after install
• Terminal native — runs anywhere a terminal runs, including SSH
• Your editor — uses your $EDITOR (vim, nano, helix, whatever you prefer)
• Interactive TUI — markdown-rendered lessons, progress tracking, theme switching
• Shell mode — hands-on command-line exercises for Linux and Git courses
• Sandboxed execution — your exercises run in isolated temp directories with timeouts
• Built-in SQLite — SQL courses work out of the box, no database setup needed
• Optional AI hints — connect to a local Ollama instance for AI-powered help (no data leaves your machine)
• Course authoring — create your own courses with YAML + Markdown

Course Catalog

Course	Exercises	What You'll Learn
C++ Fundamentals	58	Variables, control flow, functions, arrays, pointers, structs
Python Fundamentals	57	Variables, control flow, functions, data structures, file I/O
JavaScript (Node.js)	58	Variables, control flow, functions, arrays, objects, modern ES6+
Rust Fundamentals	57	Ownership, borrowing, pattern matching, error handling, traits
Go Fundamentals	58	Syntax, goroutines, channels, standard library
AI Fundamentals (Python)	57	Vectors, neural networks, backprop, attention mechanisms
Linux Fundamentals	55	Filesystem, permissions, pipes, grep, text processing
SQL (SQLite)	55	Queries, joins, schemas, aggregation, data manipulation
Git Time Travel	42	Rescue missions, conflict resolution, recovering lost commits
Production Incident Simulator	42	Log analysis, debugging, real sysadmin scenarios

Prerequisites

Component	Details
OS	Linux or macOS (Windows support is experimental)
Rust toolchain	Install from rustup.rs if you don't have it
A terminal	Any terminal emulator, 80x24 minimum
Language tools	Only for the courses you want to take (e.g., g++ for C++, python3 for Python)

Don't have a language installed? Run learnlocal doctor to check what's available and get install suggestions.

Quick Start

1. Install Rust (if you don't have it)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source ~/.cargo/env

2. Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/thehighnotes/learnlocal.git
cd learnlocal
cargo install --path .

3. Launch

learnlocal

Use arrow keys to browse courses, press Enter to start one. That's the whole workflow.

4. (Optional) Enable AI hints

If you have Ollama running locally, rebuild with LLM support:

cargo install --path . --features llm

Then enable it in the settings screen inside the TUI, or in ~/.config/learnlocal/config.yaml.

How It Works

1. Pick a course — the home screen lists all available courses with your progress
2. Read the lesson — each lesson opens with a markdown-rendered explanation
3. Solve exercises — write code in your editor, then submit to check your solution
4. Get feedback — see compiler output, diff against expected output, or use AI hints
5. Track progress — your progress is saved automatically between sessions

Exercise Types

Type	How it works
Code exercises	Write code, compile/run, output is checked against expected result
Shell exercises	Drop into a real shell to run commands, environment is validated after
SQL exercises	Write queries against a built-in SQLite database
Multi-file exercises	Edit multiple files (e.g., header + source in C++)

CLI Reference

learnlocal                           # Launch the TUI (browse and learn)
learnlocal list                      # List all available courses
learnlocal start <course-id>         # Jump directly into a course
learnlocal progress <course-id>      # See your progress in a course
learnlocal reset <course-id>         # Reset progress (creates a backup first)
learnlocal doctor                    # Check if your system has the right tools
learnlocal validate <dir>            # Validate a course directory (for authors)
learnlocal init <name>               # Scaffold a new course directory
learnlocal export <course-id>        # Export progress as JSON or CSV
learnlocal completions <shell>       # Generate shell completions (bash/zsh/fish)

Flag	Purpose
--courses <dir>	Use a custom courses directory instead of the built-in one
--verbose	Show detailed logs for troubleshooting exercise failures

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Enter	Open course / start exercise / submit solution
e	Open exercise in inline editor
E (Shift+e)	Open exercise in your $EDITOR
h	Show/reveal hints
s	Skip exercise
r	Run code without submitting
q	Quit / go back
?	Show help

Comparison

	LearnLocal	Exercism	Codecademy	Rustlings	vimtutor
Offline	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Terminal-native	Yes	CLI submit	No	Yes	Yes
Multi-language	Yes (10)	Yes	Yes	Rust only	Vim only
Your $EDITOR	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
AI hints	Optional	No	Paid	No	No
Free	Yes	Yes	Freemium	Yes	Yes
Custom courses	Yes	No	No	No	No
No sign-up	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes

Configuration

LearnLocal stores its files in standard locations:

File	Location
Config	~/.config/learnlocal/config.yaml
Progress	~/.local/share/learnlocal/progress.json
Crash logs	./learnlocal-crash.log

You can configure editor preference, sandbox level, theme (default or high-contrast), and AI settings either through the in-app Settings screen or by editing config.yaml directly.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
"command not found" after install	Run source ~/.cargo/env or restart your terminal
Exercise won't compile	Run learnlocal doctor to check if the language tools are installed
Terminal looks garbled	Make sure your terminal is at least 80 columns wide and 24 rows tall
Progress seems lost after course update	Progress is tied to the course's major version — a v2.0 course starts fresh
AI hints not showing	Rebuild with --features llm and ensure Ollama is running (ollama serve)
Crash on startup	Check learnlocal-crash.log for details and open an issue

Creating Your Own Courses

LearnLocal courses are just YAML + Markdown — no Rust knowledge needed.

learnlocal init my-course      # scaffold a course directory
learnlocal validate my-course/ # validate before sharing

Courses follow a simple structure:

my-course/
  course.yaml          # course metadata and language config
  lessons/
    01-intro/
      lesson.md        # lesson content (Markdown)
      exercises/
        01-hello.yaml  # exercise definition

See the built-in courses in courses/ for real examples.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. When reporting bugs, please include:

• Output of learnlocal doctor
• Your OS and terminal emulator
• The course and exercise where the issue occurred
• Full error output (run with --verbose for more detail)

Part of the AIquest Research Lab

LearnLocal is part of the AIquest research ecosystem — tools for learning, inference, and AI research that respect your privacy and work offline.

Explore all projects at aiquest.info/research.

License

Code is dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option.

Course content in courses/ is licensed under CC-BY-4.0.