← For Students

Set up your environment

Work through these once and you're set for everything else. Pick your operating system in each block — the Copy button grabs just those commands. If a command fails, paste the exact error into a search or an AI assistant; don't spin on it.

01 A package manager

A package manager installs everything else with one command. macOS uses Homebrew; most Linux distros ship one already; Windows 10/11 include winget.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew --version

# Debian/Ubuntu already has apt; just refresh it
sudo apt update

# winget is built into Windows 10/11 — run in PowerShell
winget --version

02 Core tools — Git, uv, Node, VS Code

Git for version control (make a GitHub account too), uv for Python + dependencies, Node for some CLIs, and VS Code as your editor.

brew install git uv node
brew install --cask visual-studio-code
git --version && uv --version

sudo apt install -y git nodejs npm
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh   # uv
# VS Code: install from code.visualstudio.com
git --version && uv --version

winget install Git.Git OpenJS.NodeJS Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
powershell -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"   # uv
git --version; uv --version

03 Ollama — run open models locally

Ollama runs open-weight LLMs entirely on your machine — no API key, no per-token cost, and nothing leaves your computer.

# Download the app from https://ollama.com/download, then:
ollama pull gemma4      # or any model from ollama.com/library
ollama run gemma4       # opens a chat; type /bye to exit
ollama list

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama pull gemma4      # or any model from ollama.com/library
ollama run gemma4       # opens a chat; type /bye to exit
ollama list

# Download the app from https://ollama.com/download, or:
winget install Ollama.Ollama
ollama pull gemma4      # or any model from ollama.com/library
ollama run gemma4       # /bye to exit
ollama list

04 Claude Code — an AI coding assistant

Reads a codebase and helps you write, run, and debug — invaluable when you're new to a large repo. Needs a paid Claude plan or API access.

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
claude --version && claude doctor

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
claude --version && claude doctor

# run in PowerShell
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex
claude --version; claude doctor

Any OS with Node 18+ can instead run npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code. If claude isn't found after install, open a new terminal so your PATH refreshes. Setup docs: code.claude.com/docs/en/setup.

05 Cloud GPUs — when your laptop isn't enough

No install needed. Start on Google Colab for zero-setup GPU notebooks, and graduate to a persistent environment like Lightning AI Studio for sustained project work. Keep data and checkpoints out of git, and save them before a session disconnects.