Show HN: Chestnut – The antidote to AI-induced skill atrophy

I come from a machine learning background - PyTorch code, leaving a training job running overnight, and Jupyter Notebooks. I hadn't touched much frontend before diving deep into start-ups. It was similar for my co-founder Nick, who spent time working on semiconductors.

I started building, and noticing patterns in AI outputs. Enough to be able to understand how a hook works, how to manage state and why Typescript is great. But whenever it came to optimising a piece of code, debugging state issues or designing a codebase from scratch, my mind went blank. I went to ChatGPT Study Mode to seek wisdom.

I found learning with a chat-based interface frustrating. Unstructured conversation with a super smart colleague, who occasionally talks rubbish, would often lead to rabbit holes and surface-level understanding - not true wisdom. I basically became my own teacher, and unless I checked myself - I wrecked myself.

This is why we've been building the best interface for learning programming in the AI era, we called it Chestnut.

We believe interactive, personalised courses, focusing on high-level systems thinking and in-depth understanding, not syntax, are the best way to stay sharp while the world of programming changes. Not hours of passive tutorial hell, browsing the internet for nuggets of wisdom, or endless conversations with coding agents that never quite click.

Give it a spin and let us know what you think!