Don’t hand them the agent. Teach them to build it.
Four modules. Eight essentials. One local-first agent the young person builds for themselves.
Narration
A three minute spoken-word overview, in the one-to-eight voice.
The two paths
A thing you install, or a journey you take.
There are two ways to bring the Afterschool Agent to life. The first is a zip from the repo: drop the folder in, the skills are loaded, done in an afternoon. It works. The second is to walk the young person through building it, week by week, across four modules. The build changes what they actually get.
The zip is a product.“Here is your agent, loaded and ready.”
The build is a process.“Here is how the agent becomes yours.”
Why it mattersIn a world full of AI agents online, we give young people agency in real life. Building their own agent is the real-world skill.
The four modules
One capability, one payoff, each week.
MODULE 1
Foundations
Install Hermes, the local agent, and the Afterschool Chat. Silence & Stillness.
“the agent lives here, on my computer”
MODULE 2
Planning
The evening planner and deeper tailoring. Body & Wisdom.
“it plans the week around my plan”
MODULE 3
Morning Minute
The voice and the daily audio. Nature & Digital Defence.
“I wake up and press play”
MODULE 4
Extend
All eight essentials, homework support, and writing your own skills.
“I can make it do anything”
The throughlineThe week-as-a-unit runs through all four: the essential is the spine, each day a chapter. Module one gives a full week of silence; module two’s plan carries it; module three speaks it each morning; module four runs it across all eight.
Design principles
Built to be a journey, not a wall of chores.
End with a real moment.Each module finishes in something the young person can see, hear, open, or invoke. Not just configured, but experienced.
Spread the setup.One credential gate per module, never a pile.
Parent gate.A parent is brought in when money, an adult service, or a long-term commitment appears.
No pasted passwords.Every credential step hands off to the provider’s own secure flow.
Age-calibrated.A thirteen year old’s parent does much of module one; a seventeen year old may do all four alone.
Skippable, with a recommended path.The modules are a curated order, not a lock.
Begin
Start with Module one.
Module one is Foundations and Silence & Stillness. By the end of it, the young person has a local agent that knows them, and has already produced a silence activity built from their own answers.