Tutor Setup

# Tutor Setup — Knowledge to Obsidian StudyVault

## CWD Boundary Rule (ALL MODES)

> **NEVER access files outside the current working directory (CWD).**
> All source scanning, reading, and vault output MUST stay within CWD and its subdirectories.
> If the user provides an external path, ask them to copy the files into CWD first.

## Mode Detection

On invocation, detect mode automatically:

1. **Check for project markers** in CWD:
   - `package.json`, `pom.xml`, `build.gradle`, `Cargo.toml`, `go.mod`, `Makefile`,
     `*.sln`, `pyproject.toml`, `setup.py`, `Gemfile`
2. **If any marker found** → **Codebase Mode**
3. **If no marker found** → **Document Mode**
4. **Tie-break**: If `.git/` is the sole indicator and no source code files (`*.ts`, `*.py`, `*.java`, `*.go`, `*.rs`, etc.) exist, default to Document Mode.
5. Announce detected mode and ask user to confirm or override.

---

## Document Mode

> Transforms knowledge sources (PDF, text, web, epub) into study notes.
> Templates: [templates.md](references/templates.md)

### Phase D1: Source Discovery & Extraction

1. **Auto-scan CWD** for `**/*.pdf`, `**/*.txt`, `**/*.md`, `**/*.html`, `**/*.epub` (exclude `node_modules/`, `.git/`, `dist/`, `build/`, `StudyVault/`). Present for user confirmation.
2. **Extract text (MANDATORY tools)**:
   - **PDF → `pdftotext` CLI ONLY** (run via Bash tool). NEVER use the Read tool directly on PDF files — it renders pages as images and wastes 10-50x more tokens. Convert to `.txt` first, then Read the `.txt` file.
     ```bash
     pdftotext "source.pdf" "/tmp/source.txt"
     ```
   - If `pdftotext` is not installed, install it first: `brew install poppler` (macOS) or `apt-get install poppler-utils` (Linux).
   - URL → WebFetch
   - Other formats (`.md`, `.txt`, `.html`) → Read directly.
3. **Read extracted `.txt` files** — understand scope, structure, depth. Work exclusively from the converted text, never from the raw PDF.
4. **Source Content Mapping (MANDATORY for multi-file sources)**:
   - Read **cover page + TOC + 3+ sample pages from middle/end** for EVERY source file
   - **NEVER assume content from filename** — file numbering often ≠ chapter numbering
   - Build verified mapping: `{ source_file → actual_topics → page_ranges }`
   - Flag non-academic files and missing sources
   - Present mapping to user for verification before proceeding

### Phase D2: Content Analysis

1. Identify topic hierarchy — sections, chapters, domain divisions.
2. Separate concept content vs practice questions.