Step 3 of 8 · about 30 minutes, plus your own work

Set up your workstation

🏠The everyday picture

Before cooking, a chef lays out the knives, boards and pans, and checks the gas works. It takes ten minutes and saves an hour of scrambling mid-recipe.

📘What it really is

A builder's workstation has five parts:

VS Code, your editor (Level 1, Module 8).
Git and a GitHub account (Modules 9 and 10).
Node.js (LTS version), if your backend or frontend uses JavaScript/TypeScript. Install it from nodejs.org.
An AI coding assistant. Some work inside VS Code; others run in the terminal or in the browser and can open pull requests. Whichever you use, it should work inside your project folder and show you its changes.
A project folder that's a Git repository, connected to a private GitHub repository, with:
your one-page plan saved as PLAN.md;
a rules file for the AI (often CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or similar, depending on the tool): your tools, conventions and the things it must never do;
a .gitignore that includes .env.

📝A worked example

A rules file for the tutor-booking app might say:

# Project rules

- Read PLAN.md before any change. Build only what the plan's must-haves list.
- Stack: React + TypeScript frontend, Node.js + TypeScript backend, PostgreSQL.
- Make one small change at a time, on its own branch, with a test.
- Never put secrets in code; they go in .env, which is never committed.
- Never delete data, change the live site, or run database migrations without asking me first.
- Explain every change in plain words.

💡What it means for your idea

This setup is what makes AI safe to work with: Git lets you undo, branches keep main working, the plan keeps the AI on track, and the rules file means you don't have to repeat yourself in every conversation.

✍️Practise: build your workstation

Install VS Code, Git and Node.js LTS. Check each with code --version, git --version, node --version.
Create a project folder, run git init, and push it to a new private GitHub repository.
Add PLAN.md (your plan and tools) and a rules file. Commit and push.

🧭Pick this when...

Before the first line of code, every time you start a new project.

✅Quick check

Why keep the plan and the rules in files inside the project, rather than pasting them into each AI chat?

Show the answer

Files go wherever the project goes, stay in version history, and are read by the AI every time, so the rules are never forgotten.

Your rules file says "never change the live site without asking". Who enforces it?

Show the answer

You do. The AI should follow it, but you keep control by reviewing changes before they're merged and deployed.

📚 Next in the Builder Path: Lesson 4, Work with AI in small, safe steps.