From Markdown to Paywalled Course in Minutes

Prerequisites

You'll need:

• A folder of .md files (lessons)
• A Stripe account (free)
• A Vercel account (free tier is fine)
• A TeachRepo account

Step 1: Structure Your Lesson Files

TeachRepo expects your lessons to be Markdown files with YAML frontmatter. Here's the minimal structure:

my-course/
├── course.yml          ← course metadata + pricing
├── 01-intro.md         ← free preview lesson
├── 02-core-concepts.md ← paid lesson
├── 03-advanced.md      ← paid lesson
└── 04-wrap-up.md       ← paid lesson

Each lesson file has a small frontmatter block at the top:

---
title: "Core Concepts"
access: paid
---

# Core Concepts

Your lesson content goes here. Full Markdown is supported:
code blocks, images, tables, lists, callouts.

```python
def hello_world():
    print("Hello from your lesson!")
```

The only required frontmatter fields are title and access (free or paid).

Step 2: Write Your course.yml

The course.yml is the canonical source of truth for your course. It controls pricing, lesson order, access tiers, and metadata:

title: "Python Async for Web Developers"
slug: "python-async"
price_cents: 1900          # $19.00 USD
currency: usd
version: "1.0.0"
description: |
  Master Python's asyncio, aiohttp, and async patterns
  used at production scale. Practical, code-first.
repo_url: "https://github.com/yourname/python-async-course"
tags: [python, async, web, backend]

lessons:
  - filename: 01-intro.md
    title: "Why Async? A Mental Model"
    access: free

  - filename: 02-core-concepts.md
    title: "Coroutines, Tasks, and the Event Loop"
    access: paid

  - filename: 03-advanced.md
    title: "Real-World Patterns: Timeouts, Retries, Semaphores"
    access: paid

  - filename: 04-wrap-up.md
    title: "Putting It All Together"
    access: paid

Step 3: Import to TeachRepo

Two ways to import:

Option A: GitHub Import (recommended)

Push your course folder to a GitHub repo, then import via the dashboard or API:

# Via the TeachRepo API (once you have your JWT)
curl -X POST https://teachrepo.com/api/import \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "repoUrl": "https://github.com/yourname/python-async-course",
    "courseYml": "<your-course.yml-contents>"
  }'

# Response:
# { "courseId": "crs_abc123", "slug": "python-async", "status": "imported" }

Option B: Direct YAML Import

You can paste the full course.yml directly into the TeachRepo dashboard. Lesson content is fetched from the linked GitHub repo.

Step 4: Connect Stripe

TeachRepo uses Stripe Checkout under the hood. You provide your Stripe secret key once (in your account settings or as a Vercel env var), and the platform handles everything else:

• Creates a Stripe Checkout Session on "Buy" click
• Listens for the checkout.session.completed webhook
• Grants course_entitlement in the database
• Unlocks all paid lessons immediately

# The checkout flow in 3 lines of code (simplified):
# 1. Student clicks "Buy Course" → POST /api/checkout
# 2. Stripe Checkout Session created → redirect to Stripe
# 3. Stripe webhook fires → entitlement granted → lessons unlocked

# No custom payment UI to build. No webhook handler to write.
# TeachRepo handles all of this.

Step 5: Deploy to Vercel

TeachRepo is a Next.js app. Deploy it to your own Vercel account in one command:

# Clone the TeachRepo template
git clone https://github.com/ErlisK/teachrepo
cd teachrepo

# Add your environment variables
cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local with your Supabase + Stripe keys

# Deploy
vercel --prod

Or use the TeachRepo hosted tier and skip all of this. Your call.

What Students See

Once deployed, students get:

• A course landing page with description, price, and lesson list
• Free lessons accessible immediately (no signup required)
• Signup prompt on gated lesson access attempt
• Stripe Checkout for purchase (card, Apple Pay, Google Pay)
• Instant access to all paid content post-purchase

Total Time: ~8 Minutes

• Structure your Markdown files: 2 min
• Write course.yml: 3 min
• Import + connect Stripe: 2 min
• Deploy: 1 min

That's it. Your course is live, Stripe checkout works, and students can start buying.