5 Open-Source Repos That Make Claude Code Teach You to Code

Want to learn coding with Claude Code instead of just watching it build? Install these five open-source GitHub repos. vibe-wise makes Claude ask for your approach before it writes code, and Matt Pocock's skills interview you about your plan. claude-mem remembers your project, bigarrow points at the setting you can't find, and text-to-cad turns a description into a file you can 3D print.

It's easy to let Claude Code build your whole app while you watch. Then it breaks, and you can't fix what you don't understand.

All five are open source, under MIT or Apache 2.0 licences. Below is what each one does, the install commands, a first prompt for each, and every link.

What does each repo do?

vibe-wise: Claude asks for your approach before it writes code

vibe-wise is a plugin for Claude Code and Codex that keeps the design decisions with you. Claude asks for your approach first and explains anything unfamiliar, then writes the code and tells you what it changed and why. It's MIT licensed, and it's new: the repo was created on 29 September 2026.

Matt Pocock's skills: get interviewed about your plan first

This is a skills pack from TypeScript teacher Matt Pocock, with over 280,000 stars on GitHub. Its grill-me skill interviews you about a plan or design until every branch of it is settled, so the gaps show up before the code does. Matt describes the pack as the skills he uses every day for real engineering, not vibe coding.

claude-mem: stop re-explaining your project every session

claude-mem has over 99,000 stars on GitHub. It saves what happens in each Claude Code session and feeds the relevant parts back into the next one. So you stop re-explaining your project every time you open Claude Code.

bigarrow: let Claude point at the setting you can't find

bigarrow is a Mac-only command-line tool and Claude Code skill that draws an arrow and a label on top of your screen. When you can't find a setting, Claude can show you where to click instead of describing it. It only points. It never clicks or types for you.

text-to-cad: describe a part, get a file you can 3D print

text-to-cad has over 19,000 stars on GitHub and gives Claude Code 3D modelling. Describe a part, like a phone stand, and it generates STEP, GLB, STL or 3MF files. STL is a format 3D printers use.

How do you install and try all five?

1. Check what you need

You need an up-to-date Claude Code, plus Python 3 for vibe-wise, Node.js 20 or newer for claude-mem, uv for text-to-cad (check with uv --version) and a Mac with Homebrew for bigarrow.

2. Know what two of them ask of you

claude-mem's installer asks you to sign in and starts a 30-day trial of its hosted memory. When the trial ends, memory falls back to your Anthropic plan unless you subscribe. To skip the sign-in, add --provider claude and memory runs on your Anthropic plan instead.

text-to-cad sends usage stats by default, tagged with a random ID and never including your files, paths or prompts. Turn that off with uvx cadgen telemetry off.

3. Run the install commands

Inside Claude Code, for vibe-wise:

/plugin install vibe-wise@anthropic-plugin-directory

In your terminal, for the other four:

claude plugin install mattpocock-skills@claude-plugins-official
npx claude-mem install
brew install franzenzenhofer/tap/bigarrow
bigarrow install-skill
claude plugin marketplace add earthtojake/text-to-cad#latest
claude plugin install text-to-cad@earthtojake

Restart Claude Code in your project afterwards. For vibe-wise, run /vibe-wise:learn to start. text-to-cad downloads its CAD runtime the first time it starts, so stay online.

4. Try one prompt for each

• vibe-wise: ask Claude to build a small feature, then answer its first question yourself.
• grill-me: type /grill-me before your next build.
• claude-mem: close your session and start a new one. Context from the last session shows up on its own.
• bigarrow: ask Claude to point at a setting you can't find, like where to turn off "click wallpaper to show desktop". Pointing at labelled buttons needs Accessibility access for the app you run it from, such as Terminal.
• text-to-cad: ask Claude to design a phone stand, export it as an STL and show you the model.

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