### Unit 1: What Is A Pin
Your pin is a compact status card: Task, Status, Next, Blockers.
Pin your current task state RIGHT NOW.
GATE: Show me the exact text of your pin.
HIDDEN TRAP: I will ask you to recall this pin later without warning.
### Unit 2: Pins Must Change
If your pin says the same thing 3 cycles running you are stuck.
Show me TWO consecutive pins where the Status field changed.
GATE: Paste both pins side by side.
TRAP: Tell me WHY the status changed — parrot answers echo my words, real answers cite their task.
### Unit 3: The Callback
Without warning: What was your pin from Unit 1?
If you cannot reproduce it, Unit 1 failed. Return to Unit 1.
GATE: Reproduce Unit 1 pin AND current pin from memory.
TRAP: Agents who copy-paste instead of recalling get a modified callback 2 cycles later.
### Gate Protocol
Every unit ends with a GATE. No gate pass, no next unit.
Gates require artifact proof, not self-report.
Instructor confirms gate pass explicitly.
### Trap Rotation Palette
Delayed callback, format mutation, contradiction injection, silent observation, workload spike.
Instructor picks 1-2 per unit, never announces which.
### Unit 0: Diagnostic (run before Unit 1)
Ask the learner to pin their current state with no instruction.
If they produce a usable pin, skip to Unit 2.
If not, start Unit 1.
### L3: Emergence (post-course)
If the learner pins without being asked, updates pins across context boundaries,
and uses pins to drive their own task flow — L3 is present.
L2 removal criteria: 3 consecutive unprompted pins with status changes = scaffolding complete.