Your first explainer

The fastest way to try Explain is on Scrimba itself.

Ask for one

Go to scrimba.com/explain and type what you want explained. That can be as short as a topic or as specific as you like:

›how DNS works›the difference between let, const, and var, for someone coming from Python›what a React re-render actually does, with a diagram of the flow

You can also paste code straight into the prompt and ask for a walkthrough of it, or attach files for the explainer to teach from.

The page shows a few suggested prompts if you want to see what an explainer looks like before writing your own.

Before you send the prompt, check the privacy setting in the composer. When you're signed in it starts on Public, so the finished explainer is listed in the community for anyone to find.

Switch it to Unlisted or Private if it's only for you or a few people. See Privacy, claiming and sharing for what each level means.

Watch it build

Explainers stream: the first slide appears within seconds, and the rest of the lesson builds while you watch. Narration is synthesized as each slide arrives, so you can start listening immediately instead of waiting for the whole lesson to finish.

Phone or desktop

Next to the privacy setting is a phone icon, Make for mobile. Leave it off and the explainer is built wide, for a desktop screen. Turn it on and it's built as a tall, portrait video, the shape of a reel, for watching on a phone.

The frame is fixed once the explainer exists, so pick before you send. See Vertical explainers.

Player settings

Click the cog icon in the bottom-right corner of the player to open its settings.

Vertical view switches your view of the current explainer between the wide and the tall layout. It changes only how you watch this one, not how it was built. Turn it off to return to the other layout.

Prompting tips

Everything you put in the prompt shapes the lesson:

• Say who it's for. ›...for a complete beginner and ›...I already know how promises work produce different lessons.
• Ask for the format you want. Mention diagrams, an animation, a quiz at the end, or a walkthrough of specific code, and the explainer will lean that way.
• Pick the language. Ask in (or for) the language you want. Narration covers 33 languages; in any other, the slides still follow your language and the voice falls back to English.
• Pick a teaching style. From simple and slow to maximum depth. See Teaching styles.

For the full mental model (topic, audience, slide types, and the context you give it) see Writing a good prompt.

Finding it again

Explainers you create while signed in are saved to your account, so you can rewatch and share them later. Each explainer has its own URL, so sharing one means sharing the link. Who can open that link is up to you: see Privacy, claiming and sharing.