Clavy is an AI tutor that asks you questions back. It guides you to think, reason, and understand.
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Maker
π
What inspired you to build this?
The current AI moment. Every tool β ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot β optimizes for giving you the answer as fast as possible. That's useful, but it's created a quiet problem: people have stopped trying to understand things. Students paste homework in, get answers back, and move on. Nobody's asking *why* anymore. Critical thinking is becoming a deprecated skill because AI made it feel unnecessary.
Clavy exists as a direct counter to that. Instead of doing the thinking for you, it refuses to. It only asks questions, pushes back, and makes you work through the reasoning yourself. The goal isn't to be a slower ChatGPT, it's to be the thing that AI culture is actively eroding: a space where you actually have to think.
Here are answers to those three questions for Clavy, grounded in what actually happened:
What problem were you trying to solve?
Most educational tools make learning feel productive while doing the cognitive work for you. You get the answer, not the understanding. Clavy flips that β it's a Socratic engine that only asks questions, guides reasoning, and withholds answers entirely. The problem is learned helplessness disguised as studying. The solution is making the struggle the product.
How did your approach or process evolve during the build?
A few notable evolutions:
- **The name shifted** β concept β Lumin β Clavy. The identity got sharper as the product got more defined.
- **The AI SDK broke mid-build** β v5 to v6 changed `handlers`, the streaming response API, and more. I navigated those in real time rather than waiting.
- **Age personalization was added** β injecting age group context into the system prompt so the Socratic questioning uses examples that actually land for a 14-year-old vs a 25-year-old.
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honestly the socratic approach caught me off guard, like it actually pushes back instead of just spitting answers. felt kind of like having a patient tutor who wants you to get it, not just copy paste a solution.
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Maker
@tolgakaraatΒ A patient tutor who wants you to get it', honestly might steal that as the tagline. That pushback is the whole point: copy-paste solutions don't stick, but having to work through it does. Really glad it landed that way. Thanks for taking the time to try it and write this up!
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One thing I'd love is a way to save my question threads so I can come back to tricky topics later. Maybe a bookmark or "review later" folder so the concepts I struggled with don't just disappear into the chat history.
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Maker
@serifepusk59090Β Thanks for the suggestion! I love this idea. A bookmark or "Review Later" feature would make it much easier to revisit difficult topics without digging through chat history. I'll definitely consider adding it in a future update. I appreciate the feedback!
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Love that the tutor actually turns the conversation around and asks you questions instead of just dumping info, makes the learning feel active rather than passive.
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Maker
@nilgnxmc0Β Active vs passive is exactly the distinction I was chasing, the asking-back is what turns it from a lookup tool into actual learning π Really glad that came through. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
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honestly the fact that it asks me questions instead of just dumping answers kind of changes how i study. gave it a try with some biology stuff and it actually made me explain things back, which is way more useful than i expected.
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Maker
@salihkw5oΒ This is exactly the reaction I hoped for π The whole idea was that being made to explain things back beats just getting handed an answer, glad it clicked in practice, and biology's a great test case. Would love to hear how it holds up if you throw other subjects at it. Thanks for giving it a real try!
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honestly the socratic approach caught me off guard, like it actually pushes back instead of just spitting answers. felt kind of like having a patient tutor who wants you to get it, not just copy paste a solution.
@tolgakaraatΒ A patient tutor who wants you to get it', honestly might steal that as the tagline. That pushback is the whole point: copy-paste solutions don't stick, but having to work through it does. Really glad it landed that way. Thanks for taking the time to try it and write this up!
One thing I'd love is a way to save my question threads so I can come back to tricky topics later. Maybe a bookmark or "review later" folder so the concepts I struggled with don't just disappear into the chat history.
@serifepusk59090Β Thanks for the suggestion! I love this idea. A bookmark or "Review Later" feature would make it much easier to revisit difficult topics without digging through chat history. I'll definitely consider adding it in a future update. I appreciate the feedback!
Love that the tutor actually turns the conversation around and asks you questions instead of just dumping info, makes the learning feel active rather than passive.
@nilgnxmc0Β Active vs passive is exactly the distinction I was chasing, the asking-back is what turns it from a lookup tool into actual learning π Really glad that came through. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
honestly the fact that it asks me questions instead of just dumping answers kind of changes how i study. gave it a try with some biology stuff and it actually made me explain things back, which is way more useful than i expected.
@salihkw5oΒ This is exactly the reaction I hoped for π The whole idea was that being made to explain things back beats just getting handed an answer, glad it clicked in practice, and biology's a great test case. Would love to hear how it holds up if you throw other subjects at it. Thanks for giving it a real try!