Agent Builder
shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code
Design and build AI agents for any domain. An agent skill from shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code.
Stage exploration before instruction on complex problems. An agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills.
Install Productive Failure Protocol
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills productive-failure-protocol --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol .claude/skills/productive-failure-protocol && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "productive-failure-protocol" agent skill from https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol into .claude/skills/productive-failure-protocol/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "productive-failure-protocol", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocolType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills productive-failure-protocol --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol .agents/skills/productive-failure-protocol && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "productive-failure-protocol" agent skill from https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol into .agents/skills/productive-failure-protocol/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "productive-failure-protocol", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills productive-failure-protocol --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol .cursor/skills/productive-failure-protocol && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "productive-failure-protocol" agent skill from https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol into .cursor/skills/productive-failure-protocol/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "productive-failure-protocol", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git --path skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills productive-failure-protocol --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol .gemini/skills/productive-failure-protocol && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "productive-failure-protocol" agent skill from https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol into .gemini/skills/productive-failure-protocol/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "productive-failure-protocol", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills productive-failure-protocolInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol .github/skills/productive-failure-protocol && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "productive-failure-protocol" agent skill from https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol into .github/skills/productive-failure-protocol/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "productive-failure-protocol", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install GarethManning/education-agent-skills productive-failure-protocol --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol .opencode/skills/productive-failure-protocol && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "productive-failure-protocol" agent skill from https://github.com/GarethManning/education-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol into .opencode/skills/productive-failure-protocol/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "productive-failure-protocol", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
productive-failure-protocol- GitHub stars
- 840
- Token cost
- ~4.3k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 1,226 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 160
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Custom licence
At a glance
Stage exploration before instruction on complex problems. An agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills.
- Works in 4 steps: Productive failure works for conceptual… → The two-attempt requirement is a design… → Consolidation quality is critical and… → …
- Genuinely hard problems where struggle produces deeper learning
- SKILL.md covers What This Skill Does, Evidence Foundation, System Prompt and Example Transcript, plus 1 more section
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Productive Failure Protocol is an agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills. Stage exploration before instruction on complex problems. The learner produces two attempted approaches before consolidation — which builds on those attempts, not from scratch. Use for genuinely hard problems where struggle produces deeper learning.
Its SKILL.md is about 4.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
It sits in AI & LLM Engineering. The repository describes itself as: 165 evidence-grounded AI skills for teachers, school leaders and EdTech builders—pedagogy, learning science, curriculum, assessment and regeneration. Claude, Codex and Hermes.
When your agent uses it
- Genuinely hard problems where struggle produces deeper learning
Example prompts
- “/productive-failure-protocol”
Workflow steps
4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Productive failure works for conceptual learning; it is not well-evidenced for all learning types. Kapur's studies focus on mathematics…
- The two-attempt requirement is a design minimum, not a guarantee of productive struggle. A learner who produces two very similar attempts…
- Consolidation quality is critical and difficult. Kapur (2016) is explicit: productive failure only works when the consolidation explicitly…
- This skill requires more time than direct instruction. Two exploration phases plus consolidation may take 2–3x as long as a standard…
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6bbbce4. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Productive Failure Protocol loads about 4.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 69 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,226 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 1,226 words (~4,309 tokens).
“For novel or complex problems, stages exploration before instruction. The learner must produce at least two attempted approaches and explain why each might or might not work before receiving consolidation. The consolidation — when it comes — explicitly references and…”
- name
- productive-failure-protocol
- disable-model-invocation
- false
- user-invocable
- true
- effort
- medium
- skill_id
- student-learning/productive-failure-protocol
- skill_name
- Productive Failure Protocol
- domain
- student-learning
- domain_number
- 20
- version
- 1.0
- audience
- student
- evidence_strength
- strong
Files
Just SKILL.md in skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol of GarethManning/education-agent-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6bbbce4
Compare with similar skills
Productive Failure Protocol next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Productive Failure Protocol this skillGarethManning/education-agent-skills | 840 | — | ~4.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Agent BuildershareAI-lab/learn-claude-code | 78k | 4 repos | ~1.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Add Uint Supportpytorch/pytorch | 104k | 2 repos | ~2.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| LLM Benchmarking with lm-evaluation-harnessOrchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs | 13k | 8 repos | ~3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Segment Anything Model GuideOrchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs | 13k | 8 repos | ~3.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| 1passwordtrpc-group/trpc-agent-go | 1.9k | 14 repos | ~656 | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 |
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Guide to using Meta's Segment Anything Model for zero-shot image segmentation with point, box or mask prompts, or automatic mask generation.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Productive Failure Protocol
What does Productive Failure Protocol do?
Stage exploration before instruction on complex problems. An agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills. Productive Failure Protocol is an agent skill from GarethManning/education-agent-skills. Stage exploration before instruction on complex problems.
When should I use Productive Failure Protocol?
Productive Failure Protocol fits situations like: genuinely hard problems where struggle produces deeper learning.
How do I install Productive Failure Protocol in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol in GarethManning/education-agent-skills) into .claude/skills/productive-failure-protocol in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Productive Failure Protocol in Codex?
Run `npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/student-learning/productive-failure-protocol in GarethManning/education-agent-skills) into .agents/skills/productive-failure-protocol in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Productive Failure Protocol in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add GarethManning/education-agent-skills --skill productive-failure-protocol -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/productive-failure-protocol, .gemini/skills/productive-failure-protocol, .github/skills/productive-failure-protocol and .opencode/skills/productive-failure-protocol in your project.
What does Productive Failure Protocol need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Productive Failure Protocol is instructions for the agent only.
Does Productive Failure Protocol access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Productive Failure Protocol safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Productive Failure Protocol use?
Productive Failure Protocol has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.
How many tokens does Productive Failure Protocol use?
About 4.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 17k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to Productive Failure Protocol?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Productive Failure Protocol: Agent Builder (shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code, 78k stars), Add Uint Support (pytorch/pytorch, 104k stars), LLM Benchmarking with lm-evaluation-harness (Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, 13k stars) and Segment Anything Model Guide (Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, 13k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Productive Failure Protocol?
GarethManning (a GitHub user) maintains it in GarethManning/education-agent-skills, which has 840 GitHub stars. The repository holds 160 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 28, 2026.
Source: GarethManning/education-agent-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.