Setup guide
Your First AI Lab.
Prepare your computer for practical AI experiments. Follow the instructions for your operating system — or learn without installing anything yet.
I WANT TO LEARN WITHOUT INSTALLING ANYTHING YET
That is completely fine. Every lesson in AI Agent Fundamentals — including all exercises, simulations, and the capstone — runs entirely in your browser. You can finish the whole course, then come back here when you are ready to run real code.
Start the course in your browserBefore you install anything
Four quick checks, whichever computer you have. None of them change anything on your machine — they only look.
- Internet connection. You will download a few tools, so make sure you are online.
- Free disk space. Aim for at least 2 GB free. On Windows: open File Explorer and look at “This PC”. On macOS: open the Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage.
- Memory (RAM). 8 GB is comfortable for everything in this course. You will find it in the same place as disk space.
- Administrator permission. Some installers ask for it. If this is a work computer and you do not have it, ask your IT team — or use the browser-based path above. You never need to disable any security protection for this course.
The four windows you will meet
- A terminal — an app where you type short commands instead of clicking. On Windows this is PowerShell; on macOS it is Terminal. You are not writing a program when you use it — just giving the computer one instruction at a time.
- A code editor — a text editor designed for code, like a word processor that understands programming languages.
- A web browser — what you are using right now.
- Python — the programming language your first agent will be written in. Installing it gives your computer the ability to run Python programs.
Verify your environment
Mark each item when you can do it. Your checklist is saved in this browser. Anything unchecked is a sign to revisit the steps above — or to keep learning in the browser, which needs none of this.
When something goes wrong
- “Command not recognized.” Close and reopen the terminal first — new tools are picked up when a terminal starts. If it still fails, the tool is not on your PATH; the tool sections above explain the fix.
- “Permission denied.” The installer needs approval. On a personal computer, approve with your password. On a managed computer, ask your IT team — never disable security protections to work around this.
- Nothing works and you are stuck. You can complete the entire AI Agent Fundamentals course in your browser and return to setup later. Learning the concepts first is a perfectly good order.