Your workspace.
Your first win.

SESSION 00 / SET UP TO LEARN

Two hours. Your own accounts. A working local lab.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Three places. Three jobs.

Place What happens there
GitHub Read, copy and collaborate on course files
Your computer Run the fictional training lab
Codex Work with an AI teammate on the files you provide
© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Make your GitHub account

  1. Open https://github.com/signup
  2. Verify your email
  3. Secure your account privately

Already registered? https://github.com/login

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Find your way around

README → course overview
labs/ → your hands-on instructions
decks/ → editable slide sources
sandbox/ → the local teaching app

Public reading needs no organization invitation.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Copy, fork, or clone?

Download ZIP / a simple local copy
Fork / your own repository on GitHub
Clone / a local copy with Git history

Start with the route that works on your device.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Take a break.

Next: make the lab run on your computer.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Install your local toolkit

Node.js 22+ / https://nodejs.org/en/download

GitHub Desktop (Mac/Windows) / https://desktop.github.com/download/

Optional editor / https://code.visualstudio.com/download

Check: node --version and npm --version

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Your first launch

Open the course folder in a terminal.

npm start

Visit http://127.0.0.1:4178

Keep the terminal running. Ctrl+C stops the lab.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Check the startup

Select Candidate B and load an allocation.

Confirm a reserved record appears.

Later labs investigate behavior; this is just a startup check.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Bring Codex into the workspace

Use Codex or an approved compatible client/host route.

Local/capped Qwen3.8-27B options: SMALL_MODEL_GUIDE.md

Official setup: https://developers.openai.com/codex/quickstart

Ask it to read only fixtures/setup-example.mjs.

Predict the output, then run: node fixtures/setup-example.mjs

Open the example file

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Check one claim

Locate the function Codex cites.

Can you connect the explanation to the actual file?

Save one verified observation and one question.

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Ready to go?

✓ GitHub email verified
✓ Course files located
✓ Local lab starts and stops
✓ AI account ready, or coach follow-up recorded
✓ Session 01 handout found

© 2026 Jared Cluff · Labalicious · Session 00

Show each place separately. Ask learners which service owns which action.

10–25 minutes. Never collect passwords or recovery codes.

Linux: use ZIP or Git CLI. On Windows use npm.cmd if PowerShell blocks npm.ps1. See PLATFORM_GUIDE.md.

Preflight the exact model/client route. No mandatory premium subscription; hosted usage may require a capped key.

Assess a demonstration, not installation speed.