Setting Up Your Workspace

Let's Get You Set Up

You know what vibe coding is. You know the workflow: describe, build, test, refine. Now let's get your workspace set up so you're ready when the real building starts in Module 5.

In this lesson, you'll set up your AI coding tool, take it for a test drive with a tiny project, and learn about other building approaches that exist beyond this course. By the end, you'll have a working workspace and the confidence that this process actually works.

Your Vibe Coding Workspace

For this course, you'll use an AI-powered coding tool that combines everything in one place: a way to describe what you want, a code editor (that AI fills in for you), a live preview of what you're building, and a way to deploy your finished project to the internet.

There are several tools that work great for this. Here's what we recommend:

You can also use a simpler setup: any AI chat tool (like ChatGPT or Claude) plus a text editor like VS Code on your computer. You'd describe what you want in the AI chat, copy the code it generates, paste it into a file, and open it in your browser to preview. This works fine but requires more manual steps. The all-in-one tools above handle this automatically.

Your First Test Drive

Let's make sure everything works. You're going to build something tiny — not your real project, just a quick test to prove the workflow works and build your confidence.

1. Open your workspace. Go to your chosen tool (Replit, Bolt, or your AI chat + editor) and start a new project.
2. Describe something simple. Type this (or something like it): "Build a personal greeting page. It should say 'Hello, I'm [your name]' in large text, with a short sentence underneath about one thing you like. Use a dark background with a bright accent color. Make it look clean and modern."
3. See what AI builds. Within seconds, you should see a working page with your greeting. It might not be exactly what you pictured — and that's fine. That's what the next step is for.
4. Give feedback and refine. Try one of these: "Make the text bigger and centered on the page." Or "Change the accent color to blue." Or "Add a second line that says 'I'm learning to build with AI.'" See how AI responds to your direction.
5. Celebrate. You just built something. It's small, but it's real. The exact same process — describe, build, test, refine — is how you'll build your entire project in Module 5.

Other Approaches Worth Knowing

Vibe coding is the approach we use in this course, but it's not the only way people build things. Here's a quick look at other approaches you might encounter — not because you need them right now, but because a good builder knows what's out there.

All of these are legitimate ways to build things, and you might use some of them in future projects. But for this course, vibe coding gives you the best combination of flexibility, learning, and speed. You can build anything you can describe — and that's a powerful starting point.