Worked approach revealed. Return to the challenge when you are ready to continue.
Duration: 30 minutes
Prerequisites#
Please ensure you have satisfied the General prerequisites and the standalone setup guide before continuing.
Approach#
The aim here is a smooth, fast start — a good setup means the rest of the day goes into building, not fighting toolchains.
Task 1: Get the code and open an environment#
- Sign in with your own GitHub account with active Copilot access and open your own fork in GitHub Codespaces (fastest, nothing to install), a local VS Code Dev Container, or locally. No accounts or lab credentials are supplied.
- 💡 If local setup takes more than ~15 minutes, switch to Codespaces rather than fighting a local toolchain.
- Confirm you're on the intended working branch.
Task 2: Verify runtimes and enable Copilot#
- In Codespaces / the Dev Container, Node.js 24, Python 3.13, .NET 10, and Java 17 are preinstalled. Locally, install only the runtime for your chosen API track plus Node.js.
- Sign in to GitHub Copilot in the IDE. Proof that it works is a real Chat response about a file you have open — not just the extension being installed. If suggestions are empty, sign out/in, confirm your seat is assigned, and open a real source file so the agent has context.
Task 3: Explore the repo#
- 🔑 The quickest way to satisfy this is to ask Copilot Chat to summarise the repository structure and the main entry points.
- Identify:
src/(the app — frontend + four API variants + shared SQLite schema, plussrc/docs/architecture guidance),infra/+scripts/(Azure deployment),assets/(Challenge 3 backlog & WorkIQ inputs),.github/(Copilot custom instructions & agents). Readsrc/README.md.
Task 4: Run the app locally#
- Start the frontend and one API (see
src/README.md—make dev/ per-variant targets). Load a page in the browser and confirm the API responds. - Pick the API language you are most comfortable with; the choice doesn't affect the concepts in later challenges.
Optional stretch — repo-wide agent context#
Create an AGENTS.md and/or .github/copilot-instructions.md with:
- Conventions — concrete, repo-specific rules (naming, repository pattern, DTO/type usage), not generic advice.
- Validation commands — the exact build/test commands for your track and the frontend.
- Scope rules — explicit "do not touch" boundaries (generated files, infra, unrelated services).
Then, in a fresh Copilot Chat, ask something that relies on a convention without restating it and confirm the instructions were applied. This pays off directly in Challenges 2–4.
You successfully completed challenge 1! 🚀🚀🚀