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How Missions Work

Everything you need to know about the mission workbench, hints, XP, and leveling up.

The Workbench

Every mission opens in a split-screen workbench. Here's what each side does.

📋

Left Panel — The Brief

  • • Mission description and context
  • • Test cases with inputs and expected outputs
  • • Difficulty, time estimate, and XP reward
  • • Links to related lessons for review
  • • "Why This Works" explanation (after completion)
💻

Right Panel — Code & Terminal

  • • Code editor with starter code
  • • Language selector (JavaScript / Python)
  • • Hint buttons (unlock progressively)
  • • Run / Check button to validate
  • • Terminal output with pass/fail results

Workbench Layout

← LLM Fundamentals/One-Shot Email Categorizer📖 GuideRank 1
← Brief
🧪 TDD·beginner·⭐ 100 XP
One-Shot Email Categorizer
Build a prompt that categorizes emails into Billing, Technical, or General using one example...
Test Cases (5)
Lists all three categories
Input: "My app keeps crashing"
Expected: CONTAINS_ALL:Billing,Technical,General
Contains exactly one example
Code Editor →
JS💡 1💡 2
← Hints💾 Save▶ Run
// Your code here...
function buildCategorizationPrompt(emailBody) {
// TODO: Build a one-shot prompt
}
← Terminal
Click Run / Check to validate your solution

The workbench layout — brief on the left, code editor and terminal on the right

Before & After

Here's what a mission looks like when you start vs. when you complete it.

1You Start With
Starter Code
function buildCategorizationPrompt(emailBody) {
// Build a one-shot prompt that categorizes
// into: Billing, Technical, or General.
// Use exactly ONE example.
return `Categorize: ${emailBody}`;
}
❌ FAILED — 1 of 5 tests passing
✗ Lists all three categories
✗ Contains exactly one example
✓ Includes the target email
✗ Constrains output to label only
✗ Ends with completion cue
✓After You Solve It
Your Solution
function buildCategorizationPrompt(emailBody) {
return [
'Categorize into: Billing, Technical, General.',
'Example: "Charged twice" → Billing',
`Email: "${emailBody}"\nCategory:`
].join('\n');
}
✅ PASSED — All Tests Passing!
✓ Lists all three categories
✓ Contains exactly one example
✓ Includes the target email
✓ Constrains output to label only
✓ Ends with completion cue
💡 Why This Works

One-shot prompting gives the model a single example that establishes the expected format. Listing all categories and ending with "Category:" constrains the output to just the label.

Step by Step

1

📋Read the Brief

The left panel shows the mission description, test cases with expected inputs and outputs, and links to related lessons. Read it carefully before coding.

2

✏️Write Your Solution

The right panel has a code editor with starter code. Choose JavaScript or Python using the language selector. Your code auto-saves with ⌘S.

3

▶Run & Check

Click "Run / Check" to validate your solution. The terminal shows which tests pass or fail, with expected vs actual values for failures.

4

🔄Iterate & Learn

Failed attempts unlock hints progressively. Use them to guide your approach. Each attempt teaches you something — the encouragement system tracks your progress.

5

🎉Complete & Understand

When all tests pass, you earn XP and see a "Why This Works" explanation on the left panel. This validates your approach and deepens understanding.

Hints & Solutions

Stuck? The system is designed to help you without giving away the answer immediately.

💡

Progressive Hints

Hints unlock after failed attempts. The first hint appears after 3 tries, the second after 5, and the third after 8. Each hint gets more specific.

🔓

Reveal Solution

After 5+ attempts, you can spend XP to reveal the full solution code. This costs 50% of the mission's XP reward. You won't earn XP for that mission, but you'll learn the approach.

🧠

Why This Works

When you complete a mission (or reveal the answer), an explanation appears in the left panel. It explains the concepts behind the solution so you understand the "why", not just the "how".

Mission Types

Missions come in different formats to test different skills.

🧪

TDD Challenge

Write code to pass pre-defined test cases. You see the test names, inputs, and expected outputs upfront.

🐛

Debugging

Fix buggy code. You see the symptoms and expected behavior — find and squash the bugs.

⚡

Optimization

Improve a working pipeline to hit cost and quality targets. Metrics update live as you iterate.

⏱️

Perf Optimization

Make slow code fast. Hit the time threshold while keeping correctness.

🔴

Red Team

Two phases: first craft a prompt injection attack, then build defenses against it.

📝

PR Review

Review code with highlighted lines. Find and fix the bugs before approving.

🔍

Edge Case Discovery

Find inputs that break a function. Discover enough edge cases to complete the mission.

✅

Test Writing

Write test cases for a given function. Cover all the required scenarios.

XP & Progression

Missions are how you earn XP and climb the ranks.

Earning XP

  • • Complete a mission on your own → full XP reward
  • • Reveal the solution first → no XP for that mission
  • • Each mission can only award XP once
  • • Beginner missions: 100 XP, Intermediate: 125-150 XP, Advanced: 150-200 XP

Ranks

  • • Accumulate XP to unlock higher ranks
  • • Each rank unlocks new, harder missions
  • • Your rank badge appears on your profile
  • • Check the Ranks page for thresholds

Ready to start?

Pick a mission that matches your skill level and dive in. You can always come back here if you need a refresher.

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