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Primer

Ranked 3 of 6 AI tutors by recommenders

Open-source Socratic AI learning companion that moves through milestones so learners don't get lost. Contributors are invited to help build it.

Open-source Socratic AI learning companion that moves through milestones so learners don't get lost. Contributors are invited to help build it.

9 people gave an opinion

recommend it
9
criticize it
0
approval share
100%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 5 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: not recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: not recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
  • Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Keeps learning on track milestone by milestone

    “milestone-first feels way better for actually learning and not getting lost after step 2.”

    Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Primer – build software with AI agents one milestone at a time”

    “Except Primer did that without this crutch.”

    Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings”

Other AI tutors people recommend

The four most recommended other AI tutors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

Primer compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Lathe by devenjarvis18386%4—Approved
Ello AI tutor11569%1——
PrimerThis page90100%5——
Academa7464%1——
Khanmigo51822%3——
See all 6 AI tutors, ranked

What people said

7 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“Payment Orchestrators help solve this problem.”

RecommendsComment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Stripe, Advent offer to buy PayPal for more than $53B”

“I'll still watch a good movie, for sure.”

RecommendsComment from 8 Jul 2026 in “The Age of Reading Is Over”

“the evaluation surface is what lets users trust, compare and improve the agent over time”

RecommendsComment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Lessons from Building Evals for Financial AI Agents”

“Another favorite of mine - Primer”

RecommendsComment from 29 May 2026 in “The $500K AI Film That "Premiered at Cannes" Was Not in the Official Festival”

“Every line of code is public. And we need contributors”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “We're Building Neal Stephenson's Primer”

“milestone-first feels way better for actually learning and not getting lost after step 2.”

RecommendsComment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Primer – build software with AI agents one milestone at a time”

“Except Primer did that without this crutch.”

RecommendsComment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Stranger Things Creator Says Turn Off "Garbage" Settings”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.