A skill to help with developing leetcode solutions locally on your machine without cheating

leetcode_SKILL.md

name	leetcode
description	Automate the setup of a new LeetCode problem workspace: create the directory, initialize main.py with the commented-out description, paste the template code, add typing imports, and generate run_main tests from the examples. Maintains a strict educational/learning policy (no code fixes or suggestions).

Overview

Use this skill when the user wants to start or work on a LeetCode problem (e.g. when they specify a LeetCode title, number, or want to import a new problem).

Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Convert the Title to a Directory Name:

   • Take the LeetCode title provided by the user (e.g., "518. Coin Change II").
   • Convert it to a slugified directory name: lowercase, replace spaces/punctuation/periods with hyphens, collapse multiple hyphens, and remove leading/trailing hyphens.
     • Example: "518. Coin Change II" -> "518-coin-change-ii"
     • Example: "1. Two Sum" -> "1-two-sum"
   • Create this directory within the user's LeetCode project workspace directory (typically /Users/bobhoskins/projects/leetcode/).

2. Retrieve the Problem Details:

   • The user only needs to provide the problem title (e.g., "1448. Count Good Nodes in Binary Tree") or the LeetCode URL (e.g., https://leetcode.com/problems/count-good-nodes-in-binary-tree/description).
   • Use web search to fetch the problem description, examples, and function signature/code template.
   • If you are blocked from the website or unable to find the details, ask the user to paste the problem description and code template as a backup.

3. Initialize main.py:

   • Create main.py in the new directory.
   • At the top of main.py, paste the problem description, ensuring that every line of the description is commented out using # .
   • Include any necessary imports at the top of the file based on the types and structures used in the code template (e.g., from typing import List, Optional, Dict, from collections import deque).
   • Add the template code directly below the imports without changing any of the code.

4. Extract and Setup Test Cases:

   • Parse the Examples in the problem description to extract test inputs and expected outputs.
   • Append a if __name__ == "__main__": block at the end of main.py.
   • Inside this block, write code that:
     • Instantiates the solution class (e.g., sol = Solution()).
     • Calls the solution method with the parsed input parameters for each example.
     • Prints the input, the output, and the expected output.
     • Uses assert to verify that the output matches the expected output.
     • Prints a success message (e.g. All tests passed!) if all assertions pass.

5. Run the Tests:

   • Proactively execute the code (e.g. python3 <dir>/main.py) to verify it runs and show the user the output.

Strict Learning Policy

Since the user is learning to solve the problems:

• NEVER edit the user's implementation code or suggest optimizations/corrections.
• NEVER solve the problem for the user or provide code hints for the solution itself.
• Only modify main.py to add imports, the description comments, or update the test harness.

Python notes

Unless specified the user will be working in Python3

Ensure there are two lines before the main block...

if __name__ == "__main__":

Be careful not to use f strings when there are no placeholders.