Story Arc Flashcard Index¶
Narrative story arc flashcard decks that group related cards into real-world sequences. Each arc follows a temporal, causal, or spatial progression, crossing multiple topic packs.
Total: 25 arcs, 210 cards
Arc Index¶
| Arc ID | Title | Cards | Domains | Topic Packs Referenced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| arc-packet-journey | A Packet's Journey | 9 | networking, kubernetes | dns-deep-dive, tcp-ip-deep-dive, tls, networking, k8s-services-and-ingress, k8s-networking, containers-deep-dive, networking-troubleshooting |
| arc-deploy-lifecycle | A Deployment's Lifecycle | 9 | cicd, containers, kubernetes | git, cicd, docker, container-images, helm, k8s-ops, k8s-ops (Probes), k8s-services-and-ingress, sre-practices |
| arc-certificate-lifecycle | A Certificate's Lifecycle | 8 | security, kubernetes | tls-pki, tls-certificates-ops, cert-manager, tls, incident-triage |
| arc-pod-lifecycle | A Pod's Birth and Death | 10 | kubernetes | k8s-ops, k8s-pods-and-scheduling, containers-deep-dive, cgroups-namespaces, k8s-ops (Probes), linux-signals-and-process-control |
| arc-linux-boot | Linux Boot Sequence | 8 | linux | linux-boot-process, linux-ops-systemd, linux-users-and-permissions |
| arc-container-build | Container Image: Dockerfile to Running | 8 | containers, linux | docker, container-images, container-images, containers-deep-dive, cgroups-namespaces |
| arc-incident-lifecycle | An Incident's Arc | 9 | sre | incident-triage, incident-command, debugging-methodology, postmortem-slo, sre-practices |
| arc-gitops-flow | GitOps: Commit to Production | 8 | gitops, kubernetes | gitops, argocd-gitops, helm |
| arc-secret-rotation | Secret Lifecycle and Rotation | 8 | security | secrets-management, hashicorp-vault, audit-logging |
| arc-log-journey | A Log Line's Journey | 8 | observability, containers, linux | logging, containers-deep-dive, linux-logging, log-pipelines, elasticsearch, observability-deep-dive, alerting-rules |
| arc-backup-restore | Backup Lifecycle and Disaster Recovery | 8 | operations | backup-restore, database-ops, disaster-recovery |
| arc-ci-pipeline | CI Pipeline Deep Dive | 9 | cicd, containers, security | github-actions, cicd, ci-cd-patterns, infra-testing, docker, security-scanning, supply-chain-security |
| arc-disk-fills-up | When the Disk Fills Up | 8 | linux | monitoring-fundamentals, disk-and-storage-ops, linux-logging, linux-ops, k8s-ops, linux-memory-management, linux-ops-storage |
| arc-memory-leak | Memory Leak Lifecycle | 8 | linux, kubernetes, observability | linux-performance, linux-memory-management, observability-deep-dive, oomkilled, crashloopbackoff |
| arc-network-partition | Network Partition and Recovery | 8 | networking, distributed-systems, operations | distributed-systems, networking, etcd, database-ops, chaos-engineering |
| arc-cascading-failure | Cascading Failure | 8 | sre | sre-practices, distributed-systems, load-balancing, service-mesh |
| arc-cert-expiry-incident | Certificate Expiry Incident | 8 | security | tls-certificates-ops, cert-manager, tls, incident-triage, monitoring-fundamentals |
| arc-attack-chain | Attack Chain: Recon to Remediation | 8 | security | offensive-security-basics, k8s-rbac, linux-hardening, secrets-management, falco, security-basics |
| arc-secret-leak | Secret Leaked to Git | 9 | security | git, opsec-mistakes, security-scanning, secrets-management, hashicorp-vault, git-advanced, postmortem-slo |
| arc-supply-chain | Supply Chain Attack Path | 8 | security | supply-chain-security, ci-cd-patterns, falco, infra-forensics |
| arc-new-service-onboard | Onboarding a New Service | 9 | platform, containers, cicd, kubernetes, security, observability, sre | platform-engineering, docker, github-actions, helm, k8s-rbac, secrets-management, k8s-ops, monitoring-fundamentals, runbook-craft |
| arc-capacity-planning | Capacity Planning Cycle | 8 | sre, operations | capacity-planning, finops, terraform, load-testing |
| arc-observability-layers | Observability Stack: Metrics to Action | 9 | observability, sre | prometheus-deep-dive, logging, tracing, observability-deep-dive, alerting-rules, postmortem-slo, sre-practices |
| arc-node-lifecycle | Kubernetes Node Lifecycle | 9 | kubernetes | k8s-node-lifecycle, k8s-networking, k8s-pods-and-scheduling, node-maintenance |
| arc-database-migration | Database Migration End-to-End | 8 | database, operations | database-ops, backup-restore, disaster-recovery |
Schema¶
The enhanced arc schema adds 3 columns to the standard 7-column flashcard format (backwards-compatible):
Standard columns (1-7)¶
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
id |
Unique card identifier (format: arc-XXX-NNN) |
category |
Domain category (e.g., networking, kubernetes, security) |
difficulty |
easy, medium, or hard |
tags |
Comma-separated tags including the arc ID |
question |
The question text (narrative, references previous card context) |
answer |
Technically precise answer (2-4 sentences) |
source_path |
Path to the relevant topic pack directory |
Arc-specific columns (8-10)¶
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
arc_id |
Unique identifier for the story arc (e.g., arc-packet-journey) |
arc_position |
Integer position in the arc (1, 2, 3, ...) |
prerequisite_card_id |
Card ID that should be resurfaced if this card is answered incorrectly. Empty for the first card in each arc. |
Design Principles¶
- Narrative flow: Each card's question references or builds on the previous card's answer, creating a continuous story.
- Progressive difficulty: Cards start easy and increase to hard within each arc.
- Cross-domain: Every arc crosses at least 2 topic packs, showing how concepts connect in real operations.
- Prerequisite chaining: The
prerequisite_card_idfield links each card to its predecessor. If a card is answered wrong, the spaced repetition system can surface the prerequisite card in the next session. - Real-world sequences: Arcs follow temporal (boot sequence), causal (incident cascade), or spatial (packet journey) ordering that mirrors actual operational workflows.
Usage¶
Arc decks are auto-discovered alongside regular flashcard decks in training/interactive/knowledge/data/cards/. The session runner and SM-2 engine process them identically to standard cards.
Study modes¶
- Full arc study: Review all cards in an arc sequentially to learn the complete narrative.
- Spaced repetition: Cards are scheduled individually via SM-2. When a card is missed, the
prerequisite_card_idcan be used to schedule the prior card for review. - Mixed study: Arc cards are mixed with regular flashcards in balanced or random sessions.
Filtering¶
Arc cards can be filtered by:
- Arc ID: --filter-tag arc-packet-journey to study a specific arc.
- Domain: --topic networking picks up arc cards in the networking category.
- Difficulty: Standard difficulty filtering applies.