# Getting started

Skrongle teaches from courses. A course is a set of lessons, and every mode
of the app practises the same lessons.

## First steps

1. Register with your e-mail address (or sign in with Google, where the
   server offers it). There are no usernames. Confirm the address from the
   link in the e-mail it sends; until then a red ! by your e-mail on the
   profile can send the link again.
2. On *What would you like to learn?* (`/courses`) pick a ready-made course
   (Spanish and French ship with the app), or *Create a course* of your own, by hand
   or [with AI](making-courses).
3. The first time you open a course, a short wizard sets it up: where to
   motivator, a theme, a picture and, last, where to start (for a course
   whose units are levels, like Spanish's A1, A2…; a course with a
   placement test lets you take it to find out). Starting further in skips the earlier
   lessons without passing them. Change any of it later from the gear on the
   course's card on `/courses`.
4. The course's home page leads with today's goal and *Continue*, then the
   modes. Pick one.

Progress is per course. Switching course switches the home page, mastery,
vocabulary and history with it.

## The modes

| Mode | Where | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| **Sprint** | `/sprint` | Five-minute phone sessions of short exercises along a path of lessons. The daily goal ring, day streak, a review mix and a 60-second lightning round. |
| **Study** | `/lessons` | Read each lesson, pass its two-question reading check, then practise. Lessons, Practice, Listening, Map, Vocabulary, History. |
| **Play** | `/play` | Games: Word Match, the conjugation drill, Numbers by ear, Date Dash, Flashcards. |
| **Guide** | `/guide` | Each lesson as a stage of small steps: cards, quick checks, flashcards, tips. Stars. |
| **AI tutoring** | `/tutor` | A one-to-one lesson over chat. Needs your own API key (Claude, OpenAI or Gemini), saved on your profile. |

A game or exercise only appears when the course has the material for it. A
course without a calendar has no Date Dash, a maths course has no listening.
Language courses also let you tap a word to hear it.

Every mode fills the same daily goal, counted in effort points: reading, a
game or a quiz answer all move it. See
[The daily goal](progress#the-daily-goal).

## When a lesson is passed

A lesson is **passed** once both are true, in any order and any mode:

1. **Seen**: you read it to the end in Study mode (and passed its reading
   check), or played it as a Sprint session or a Guide stage, or a tutor
   taught it.
2. **Shown**: in one sitting you answered at least 3 of its exercises (all of
   them if it has fewer) and got 70 % or more right.

A pass in one mode counts in every mode: it completes the lesson's stop on the
Sprint path and its Guide stage, unlocks the next, and puts a ✓ on the lesson
in Study mode. A pass stays even after a bad round later.

**Mastery** is separate: a 0–100 score per lesson that rises with right
answers, falls with wrong ones and fades after a few days without practice.
Practice uses it to pick your weak lessons. 80 or more is "mastered".

Full rule: [Progress across modes](progress). Every feature in detail:
[Features](features).

## Your profile

The badge in the top-right corner opens the menu: profile, switch course,
documentation, log out. Inside a course it shows the picture you picked for
that course; outside one, a gear. On the profile you set your name, the
app's language and your AI API keys. A course's picture, theme and motivator
belong to the course: the gear on its card on `/courses` (see
[Themes](using-themes)). Changes save as you make them; there is no Save
button. *Do Not Show Me AI Features* (under Privacy and consent) takes the tutor and AI course creation out of
the app and deletes the API keys you saved.