---
title: "Learn rat-stack from your own agent"
type: "resource"
status: "current"
created_at: "2026-10-07"
privacy: "public"
---

# Learn rat-stack from your own agent

> For agents: start with the [agent guide](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt). Every page is Markdown by default; add `Accept: text/html` for HTML.

Learn mode explains the ideas behind rat-stack-shaped apps while your own agent does real work. It goes deeper the first time you meet an idea and gets shorter as you learn it.

## Turn it on

Copy this prompt into your agent. The agent asks you to confirm before it starts.

```text
Turn on rat-stack learn mode for me.
1. Connect to the rat-stack MCP server at https://ratstack.sh/mcp. Use learnDeck and learnCard to read the public concept deck.
2. Install the rat-stack skills with npx skills add joelhooks/rat-stack, then follow https://ratstack.sh/skills/learn.
3. Keep my progress local in ~/.rat-learn/. Use the local learnNext and learnRecord tools from a rat-stack checkout, as the skill says.
4. Never send my code, file paths, names, repository names, or prompts.
5. Ask me to confirm before you start. Keep questions off unless I turn them on. Stop when I say learn mode off.
```

The first path starts with [why dependency injection is the reason to choose Effect](/lore/dependency-injection-is-the-reason-to-choose-effect).

## How deep it goes

- A new concept gets one walkthrough.
- An introduced concept gets a line, or a paragraph after seven days.
- A familiar concept gets a line after seven days.
- A fluent concept stays silent unless you ask, or after ninety days of inactivity.
- A dismissed concept stays silent.

## What is stored and where

Progress stays on your machine in `~/.rat-learn/`. Only the learn tools write this folder.

- `log.jsonl` holds the learning events. It is the source.
- `cards.jsonl` holds concept progress, rebuilt from the log.
- `tasks.jsonl` holds concept ids and depths, rebuilt from the log.

The records hold concept ids, timestamps, depth, familiarity, and dismissal state.

## What is never sent

- Your code, file paths, names, repository names, and prompts.
- Your progress. The public deck and card tools need no progress, and they store nothing.

## Turn it off

- Say "learn mode off". The agent stops learning tool calls and explanations.
- Your progress stays. Turning the mode off does not erase it.
- Ask the agent to dismiss one concept to stop seeing that concept.

## Read more

- [How learn mode works and how to check it](/systems/learn)
- [The learn skill](/skills/learn)

## Lore on this page

- [Learn mode presents concepts at useful depths](/systems/learn)