Skip to content

Workflow with Claude Design

Clipboard icons

Commands and prompts on this page use fenced blocks with a copy button (top-right). Click to copy the full text for Terminal, Claude, or Cursor.

This is the recommended path for instructional designers who do not write application code. You use Claude Design (or Claude chat) to draft content, a simple text editor to save files, and Terminal only for lxpack commands.

Mindset: slides become files

Old habit (Storyline / Rise) LXPack habit
One .story or Rise project A folder of text files
Slide = screen Lesson = markdown page, component, or HTML lab
Trigger / variable variables and flow in course.yaml
Quiz slide assessments/final.yaml
Publish lxpack build → upload ZIP

You are building a small website the LMS wraps — not exporting PowerPoint.

What you need

Complete What you need and Your first course once before this workflow.

Phase 1 — Set up the project

lxpack init compliance-2026
lxpack init compliance-2026
cd compliance-2026
lxpack preview

Tour the sample course in the browser. Stop preview with Ctrl+C when ready.

Phase 2 — Plan in Claude Design

In Claude Design (or a Claude project), capture:

  1. Audience and prerequisites
  2. Learning objectives (measurable)
  3. Module outline — each module = one or more lessons
  4. Activities — what must be done, not only read (click, choose path, pass quiz)
  5. Assessment plan — formative vs summative, pass score
  6. LMS requirement — SCORM 1.2 vs 2004 vs xAPI (see Export to LMS)

Export or copy briefs you will turn into lessons/*.md and quiz YAML.

One module at a time

Finish validate → preview for module 1 before drafting module 5. Small loops reduce rework.

Phase 3 — Authoring loop (repeat per module)

Step A — Draft lesson Markdown

Paste into Claude:

  • Learning objectives for this lesson
  • Tone and length (for example “5 minutes, conversational, healthcare”)
  • Any source PDF or policy text

Ask for Markdown only with # / ## headings. Save as lessons/<id>.md.

Step B — Register the lesson in course.yaml

course.yaml is your table of contents. Each lesson needs:

  - id: policy_basics
    title: Policy basics
    type: markdown
    file: lessons/policy_basics.md

Use a prompt from Prompts for Claude & Cursor (for example “Add markdown lesson to course.yaml”). Always keep id values lowercase, no spaces (use underscores).

Step C — Quizzes (if this module has one)

Ask Claude to produce assessment YAML matching Quizzes and assessments. Save under assessments/ and add to course.yaml:

assessments:
  - id: module1_quiz
    file: assessments/module1_quiz.yaml

Step D — Interactive lab (optional)

For click scenarios, ask Claude for HTML using the template in Building interactions. Save as interactions/<name>/index.html and add a type: html lesson.

Step E — Validate

lxpack validate
lxpack validate

If errors appear, copy the full Terminal output into Claude: “Fix these LXPack validation errors” and paste your course.yaml plus the error text. See Troubleshooting.

Step F — Preview for review

lxpack preview
lxpack preview

Share the local URL with reviewers. Collect edits in Markdown/YAML, not screenshots of slides.

Phase 4 — Branching (optional)

If learners take different paths (role-based content, remedial track), add variables and flow. Start from the repository example branching-demo and read Branching and paths.

Validate extra carefully — branching errors are common when goto targets a lesson id that does not exist.

Phase 5 — Export and hand off to LMS

lxpack validate --target scorm12
lxpack validate --target scorm12
lxpack build --target scorm12

Give .lxpack/<course>-scorm12.zip to your LMS administrator with:

  • Intended audience
  • Completion rule (from tracking.completion.threshold in course.yaml)
  • Whether quiz scores must pass (from passingScore in assessment YAML)

Phase 6 — Migration from an existing course

Use the checklist in Migrating from legacy tools:

  1. Inventory legacy slides → map to lessons
  2. Rebuild interactions as HTML (or components)
  3. Recreate quizzes in YAML
  4. Pilot one module end-to-end
  5. Full build and LMS test in staging

FAQ

Do I need Git?

No. Git helps teams track changes but is not required. Developers often use Git; see Claude Code workflow.

Where do quiz answers live?

In assessments/*.yaml on your machine for editing. The built ZIP embeds quiz data for the runtime — learners do not download your YAML files. See Quizzes and assessments.

Why did validate fail?

Usually: typo in file: path, duplicate lesson id, or missing tracking.xapi for xAPI/cmi5 builds. Troubleshooting decodes common messages.

Can Claude edit course.yaml for me?

Yes. Paste the whole file and ask for a diff-style reply. Review id values and indentation (YAML uses spaces, not tabs).