Your Tools:
Zero to Ready in One Afternoon

GitHub is where your code lives. It is the platform where Team 1 made their 86 commits, managed their 26 branches, reviewed their 61 Pull Requests, and ran their three automated CI/CD workflows. Think of it as a combination of Google Drive (for storing files), a version history system (showing every change ever made), and an automation platform (running workflows automatically). Every team member contributes through GitHub. Every output is visible, timestamped, and attributed to a specific person.

What to Do — Step by Step

1. Open your web browser and go to github.com
2. Click the green "Sign up" button in the top right corner
3. Enter your email address. Use a professional email — this account will be associated with your work as an educator
4. Create a password. Make it strong — at least 12 characters with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols
5. Choose a username. This will be visible on everything you create. Professor Dr. Tan's username is ProfDrTan — follow a similar professional format
6. Complete the verification puzzle GitHub shows you
7. Click "Create account"
8. GitHub will send a verification code to your email. Open your email, copy the 6-digit code, and enter it on the GitHub page
9. GitHub will ask a few setup questions — answer them or click "Skip personalisation" at the bottom

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (Strongly Recommended)

1. Click your profile picture (top right) → Settings
2. In the left sidebar, click "Password and authentication"
3. Scroll to "Two-factor authentication" and click "Enable"
4. Follow the prompts to set up 2FA using an authenticator app (Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator — both are free)

GitHub is the website where your code is stored online. Git is the software on your computer that sends code to and from GitHub. Think of GitHub as a filing cabinet in the cloud and Git as the hands that put files in and take them out. Without Git on your computer, you cannot connect to GitHub from your machine. You will install it once and then barely think about it again — it works in the background.

What to Do — Windows

1. Go to git-scm.com in your browser
2. Click the large "Download for Windows" button. The download starts automatically
3. Once downloaded, open the file (it will be named something like Git-2.45.0-64-bit.exe)
4. The installer opens. Click "Next" on every screen — the default settings are correct. Do not change anything
5. On the screen that says "Choosing the default editor used by Git", change the dropdown from Vim to "Use Visual Studio Code as Git's default editor" — you will install VS Code next, and this connects them
6. Continue clicking "Next" and then "Install"
7. When installation completes, click "Finish"

Connect Git to Your GitHub Account

After installation, you need to tell Git who you are. Press the Windows key, type cmd, and press Enter to open a Command Prompt (a black window with white text — do not be alarmed, this is normal). Then type each of these commands, pressing Enter after each one. Replace the details in quotes with your own name and email:

VS Code is the application where you write and edit files. It is like Microsoft Word, but designed for code and text files rather than formatted documents. It understands the files you will be creating — Python scripts, YAML workflow files, Markdown documents — and shows them in colour-coded format that makes them easier to read and write. It is free, made by Microsoft, and used by professional developers worldwide. Team 1 used it as their primary editing environment.

What to Do

1. Go to code.visualstudio.com
2. Click the blue "Download for Windows" button
3. Open the downloaded file and click through the installer. Accept the licence agreement and click "Next" on all screens
4. On the "Select Additional Tasks" screen, tick "Add to PATH" and "Add 'Open with Code' action to Windows Explorer context menu" — both are useful
5. Click "Install", then "Finish"
6. VS Code will open automatically. You will see a welcome screen with a dark background

Install Two Essential Extensions

Extensions make VS Code smarter. You need two for this curriculum:

1. In VS Code, click the square icon on the left sidebar (it looks like four squares, one separated) — this opens the Extensions panel
2. In the search box, type Python. The first result should be "Python" by Microsoft. Click Install
3. Search for GitHub Actions. The first result should be "GitHub Actions" by GitHub. Click Install

Python is the programming language that powers the market intelligence pipeline. It is the language Team 1 used for every automated script — the agents that collect and analyse data, the pipeline that sequences all the agents, the delta engine that scores predictions. Python is the most widely used language in data science, AI, and automation. It reads almost like plain English, which makes it approachable for educators who are not developers. You do not need to write Python from scratch in this curriculum — you need to understand what a Python script does and how to run one.

What to Do

1. Go to python.org/downloads
2. Click the large yellow "Download Python 3.12.x" button (the exact version number after 3.12 does not matter — just make sure it starts with 3.12 or higher)
3. Open the downloaded file
4. CRITICAL: On the first screen of the installer, there is a checkbox at the bottom that says "Add Python to PATH". Tick this box before clicking anything else. If you miss this step, Python will not work from the command line
5. Click "Install Now" (the top option)
6. Wait for installation to complete, then click "Close"

Verify Python Is Working

Open a new Command Prompt (press Windows key, type cmd, press Enter) and type:

Install the Three Packages You Will Need

Python packages are add-ons that give Python additional capabilities. Install the three packages this curriculum uses:

Type each line into the Command Prompt and press Enter. You will see text scrolling as each package installs. When it finishes and the cursor is back, move to the next command.

OpenRouter is the service that allows a single Python script to call ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek simultaneously, without needing three separate API accounts. It acts as a bridge — you send one request to OpenRouter with the name of the AI model you want, and OpenRouter forwards it and returns the response. Team 1's LLM Operator (sun9226066/Charles) used OpenRouter to build the multi-model synthesis pipeline that became one of the most impressive components of their system. Setting up an OpenRouter account takes five minutes and costs nothing until you start making API calls — and for learning purposes, the costs are minimal (a few cents per test).

What to Do

1. Go to openrouter.ai
2. Click "Sign In" in the top right, then "Sign up"
3. Create an account with your email address
4. Once logged in, click your profile icon (top right) → "API Keys"
5. Click "Create Key"
6. Give it a name: ai-trading-lab
7. Click "Create"
8. The key appears — it starts with sk-or-. Copy it immediately and save it somewhere safe (a password manager or a private note). You will not be able to see it again after closing this window

Add Credit to Your Account

1. Click your profile icon → "Credits"
2. Add USD $5 of credit — this is enough for many months of learning-level API usage

Store Your API Key Safely

Never put your API key directly in a code file. Instead, you will store it in a .env file — a special private file that Python reads but that GitHub keeps private. You will set this up in Chapter 5. For now, just keep your key copied somewhere safe.

The terminal — also called the command line, command prompt, or shell — is a text-based interface for controlling your computer. Instead of clicking icons, you type commands. It is less intuitive than clicking, but far more powerful for the kinds of tasks this curriculum involves: running Python scripts, sending code to GitHub, creating folders, and triggering automation. Every developer uses the terminal daily. By the end of this curriculum, you will be comfortable with the eight or ten commands that matter for this work, and that comfort will transfer directly to your ability to help students when they get stuck.

Open the Terminal

On Windows 11: Press Windows key + X, then click "Terminal".
On Windows 10: Press Windows key, type cmd, press Enter.

The Ten Commands You Need to Know

You do not need to memorise these now. Read through them once, then practise the ones marked with ★ before moving on.

★ Practise These Three Commands Right Now

1. Open the terminal
2. Type cd and press Enter — note which folder you are in (probably C:\Users\YourName)
3. Type mkdir ai-trading-lab and press Enter — you just created a folder
4. Type cd ai-trading-lab and press Enter — you are now inside that folder
5. Type dir and press Enter — the folder is empty, which is expected
6. Type cd .. and press Enter — you are back in the parent folder