Day 1 · Module 1

Launch your first
AI coding agent

Get hands-on in the first 40 minutes — a real agent, a real project folder, a real file.
Time 09:00–09:40 You'll leave with a working route into an AI coding agent

What we'll do this block

  • Get into an AI coding agent — Codex or Claude Code
  • Create a dedicated practice folder for the whole course
  • Ask the agent to look around and describe what it can see
  • Have it create your first file — a README.md

Explain briefly → demonstrate → you practise → we review what happened.

Codex & Claude Code, at a high level

What they are

AI coding agents that work inside a project folder — they can read your files, propose and make changes, and run commands, with your permission.

What they are not

Not just a chat box that hands back code. The agent acts on real files — which is powerful, and why setup and safety matter.

The model vs the application

The model is the AI brain that generates text. The application (Codex, Claude Code, a web chat) is the tool you use to reach it — and it decides what the AI can see and do.

Same idea behind the wheel; very different cars. We'll come back to this all course.

The working directory

  • An agent works in one folder — its "working directory"
  • That folder is its world: the files it can see and change
  • Always know which folder you're in before you ask for changes

What an agent can read, change or run

  • Read files in its folder
  • Change or create files
  • Run commands — with permission

So, a rule from minute one

Use a dedicated practice folder. Keep sensitive files and real credentials out of it.

Hands-on lab · ~20 min

Your first project file

  1. Launch your tool (or finish install & sign-in)
  2. Create a dedicated course practice folder
  3. Open that folder in your chosen environment
  4. Ask the agent to describe the environment and list the files it can see
  5. Ask it to create a README.md introducing the practice project
  6. Open the file and confirm where it was saved
Success criterion

Every student has a working route into an AI coding agent and has created and opened a real project file.

Not there yet? Grab a facilitator — this is the foundation for everything that follows.

Next

Module 2 — Markdown

You just created a README.md. Next we'll see why that little file matters so much.