Prerequisites

Do this before Lesson 1. Nothing below requires programming experience. It's downloading a few apps, clicking through some installers, and signing up for a few free accounts. Each step links to the tool's own official setup page, which will have the most current screenshots and instructions for your operating system.

Overview

Before we build the experiment, your machine needs a few tools installed and a few accounts created. None of this is course content per se. Rather, it's just getting your computer ready. Do it once here, and every lesson after this one will work smoothly.

This should take 30-60 minutes if you're starting from scratch and less time if you already have some of this installed. You do not need to understand what any of these tools do yet. We'll explain that as we go. Right now, just get each one installed.

A few of the account signups below (Prolific especially) can involve identity or payment verification that takes a day or more to clear. Do those early so a pending review never becomes the thing blocking you on workshop morning.

If You've Never Used a Terminal Before

A couple of steps below ask you to open your "terminal" and type a command. If that sentence means nothing to you, read this first. It'll take two minutes and remove all the mystery.

A terminal is just a plain window where you type text instead of clicking buttons, and the computer types a response back. That's it. On Mac it's an app called Terminal (Spotlight search: press Cmd+Space, type "Terminal", press Enter). On Windows, search for "Command Prompt" or "PowerShell" in the Start menu.

When you open it, you'll see a mostly empty window with a blinking cursor, waiting for you to type something. To run a command:

1. Click into the window so the cursor is active.
2. Type (or copy and paste) exactly the command shown, like node --version.
3. Press Enter/Return.
4. Read whatever text appears below it. That's the computer's response.

You cannot break anything by typing one of the commands in this guide and pressing Enter. Every command below only asks the computer to report information back to you (a version number, for example). None of them delete, install, or change anything. If a command isn't recognized (you'll see something like "command not found" or "is not recognized as an internal or external command"), that just means the step above it didn't finish correctly. It's not something you did wrong, and each section below tells you how to fix it.

What You'll Need Installed

1. Node.js

Node.js lets your computer run the JavaScript-based tools this course uses (including Claude Code's underlying tooling and the experiment app itself).

1. Go to the official download page: nodejs.org/en/download

2. Download the installer for your operating system. Choose the version labeled LTS ("Long Term Support" — the stable, recommended option).

3. Run the installer and click through with the default options. On Windows, leave the "Add to PATH" checkbox enabled (it's often checked by default).

4. To check it worked, open your terminal (see If You've Never Used a Terminal Before above if you need a refresher on what that means) and run:

   node --version

   You should see a version number like v22.x.x or higher print back at you. That's all a successful install looks like—a line of text with a version number in it.

   If instead you see "command not found" (or, on Windows, "is not recognized as an internal or external command"), restart your computer and try the same command again. This fixes it in almost all cases. It just means the computer hadn't finished registering the new install yet.

5. While you're there, also check that its package manager came along for the ride:

   npm --version

   This should print a version number too (npm ships bundled with Node). You'll use it constantly starting in Lesson 1 to install and run the project. You won't need to remember what it does yet, just confirm it's there.

Still stuck after a restart? On Windows, re-run the installer and make sure "Add to PATH" was selected. On Mac, close and reopen the Terminal window (not just the tab) after installing. If neither works, don't spend more than a few minutes on it. Flag it to us before the workshop and we'll sort it out together.

2. GitHub Desktop

This course uses git to manage checkpoints — saved snapshots of code you can jump to at any point. Rather than learning git's command-line syntax, we'll use GitHub Desktop, an official application that does the same thing through clicks and buttons.

1. Create a free GitHub account if you don't have one yet, following GitHub's own guide: Creating an account on GitHub
2. Download GitHub Desktop from the official page: desktop.github.com
3. Install it, then sign in with the GitHub account you just created. GitHub's official walkthrough covers this step by step: Installing GitHub Desktop
4. The first time you sign in, GitHub Desktop will ask for a name and email use when saving your work (under its Preferences/Options menu if it doesn't ask automatically). Use the same email as your GitHub account so your work is correctly attributed later.

You won't do anything yet. Just confirm you can open the app and see yourself signed in (your avatar/username in the top corner).

3. A Code Editor: VS Code

You'll need a place to view and edit code files. We recommend VS Code, a free editor made by Microsoft.

1. Go to the official download page: code.visualstudio.com/download
2. Download and run the installer for your operating system, accepting the default options.
3. Open it once after installing to confirm it launches. No extensions or configuration are needed ahead of time. We'll install anything project-specific together in the first lesson.

4. Claude Code

This course leans on Claude Code throughout to help you write and understand code. Anthropic provides a guided setup page that will walk you through installation for your specific operating system:

code.claude.com/docs/en/setup

A couple of things worth knowing before you go there:

• If a terminal feels intimidating or you'd rather avoid it entirely, install the Claude Code desktop app instead. Check the setup page above for the download link for your operating system. It gives you the same tool in a normal windowed app: you open it, see a chat box, and type into it like any other program. Everything below about "verifying it worked" simplifies to: open the app, log in, and send it a test message.
• If you DO want to use the terminal version, that's what the rest of this course will assume in its examples, and it's a good skill to have — but it is not required. Anthropic has a dedicated terminal guide linked from that same setup page for anyone who's never used one before.
• Whichever version you install, you'll be asked to log in through your browser. Use (or create) an claude.ai account for this.

Cost note: Claude Code requires a paid Claude subscription (Pro or Max) or pay-as-you-go API credits through the Anthropic Console. Set this up before Lesson 1 so it isn't a surprise mid-lesson. A pro plan should be enough for this course.

Verify it worked:

• Desktop app: open it, complete the login prompt, and send it any message (try "hello"). A reply means it's working.

• Terminal version: open a terminal and run:

  claude --version

  Then type claude on its own and press Enter to launch it, and confirm you can send it a message (try "hello") and get a response back. If login fails or the browser window doesn't open automatically, the setup page above has an alternate manual-login flow.

Accounts to Create Ahead of Time

Create these now rather than mid-lesson. A couple involve email verification or payment details that can stall you at an inconvenient moment.

Notes on each, since these are easy to only get half finished and not notice:

• GitHub — the same account you signed into GitHub Desktop above. Nothing further needed here.
• Vercel — when you sign up, choose "Continue with GitHub" rather than a separate email/password. The deployment lesson connects Vercel directly to your GitHub repository, and starting from a GitHub-linked account avoids an extra "connect your accounts" step later. Free ("Hobby") tier is all this course needs.
• Neon — sign up for a free account. You do not need to create a database/project yet; we'll do that together when we wire up the app to store participant data. Free tier is sufficient.
• Prolific — you're signing up as a researcher (not a participant), since you'll be recruiting people to take your study. Researcher accounts typically require a payment method on file before you can launch a real study, and identity verification can take a day or more to clear. Sign up as early as possible so that review has time to finish before the workshop. You do not need to fund your account or configure a study yet. An approved account and login is all this step needs.

Also worth knowing before the workshop: running the actual experiment on Prolific means paying real participants, so budget a small amount (typically in the $5-20 range for a short pilot) if you plan to recruit live during or after the course. We have data you can use from this study having run live on Prolific already if you don't want to pay to recruit new participants.

You're Ready When...

• node --version and npm --version both print a version number in your terminal
• GitHub Desktop is installed and shows you signed in
• VS Code opens
• Claude Code is installed and you've sent it a message and gotten a reply back (terminal or desktop app, either is fine)
• You can log into github.com, vercel.com, neon.tech, and prolific.com with an account on each
• Your Claude subscription (Pro/Max) or Anthropic Console billing is active
• Your Prolific researcher account has a payment method on file and isn't stuck in a pending-verification state

Once all four tools are installed, all four accounts are created, you're ready. Lesson 1 starts from here.