Field.Notes / Foundations

Foundations for Agentic Classroom Tools

A simple setup guide for teachers who want to build and publish practical tools.

This page covers the minimum setup to start building with coding agents responsibly: core tools, version control, and publishing. You do not need every platform. Choose one path first, then expand if useful.

Important: this guide is mainly for teachers who want to share projects online. If you only want to build and use tools on your own device, GitHub is optional. You can easily test your own projects on your computer without sharing things on GitHub. But, it's good to know how to use GitHub, because sharing is caring (and fun) :)

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0. What Is This All About?

This is a practical loop for building and sharing small education tools with agentic coding.

  1. Use a code editor to talk with an AI agent tool.
  2. Explore a project idea through dialogue with your agent tool.
  3. Test the project on your computer in a web browser.
  4. Push the project to GitHub to share online with others.

1. Choose Your Tools

Think of these as pathways. Most teachers start with one agent platform. Add GitHub when you are ready to publish online, collaborate, or keep version history in the cloud.

Claude Code

A coding agent that works in your project files to help you build, edit, and iterate quickly. Pair it with GitHub when you want version control and publishing.

OpenAI Codex

A coding agent workflow for creating and refining tools through practical prompts and code edits. Pair it with GitHub when you want version history and public sharing.

Claude Code setup OpenAI Codex overview OpenAI Codex CLI setup and docs GitHub account setup

2. Plain-Language Basics

Terminal: A text-based window where you run commands to create folders, run tools, and publish projects.
Code Editor: The app where you view and edit files (for example, VS Code, Cursor, Zed, Sublime Text).
Git CLI: The Git command-line interface in Terminal (for example, git add, git commit, git push).
What Git is (GitHub Docs) Using Git from the command line (GitHub Docs)

Code Editor Options

Any editor is fine. Pick one that feels clear and comfortable, then stay consistent while learning.

Visual Studio Code Cursor Zed Sublime Text

Terminal on Mac is equivalent to using Windows Terminal / PowerShell on Windows. Same idea: run commands directly.

Terminal User Guide (macOS) Windows Terminal Documentation PowerShell Documentation Windows Command Line Reference

3. Build Path (Start Here)

  1. Install a code editor and Git.
  2. Create one GitHub repository for your first project.
  3. Choose one agent tool path: Codex or Claude Code.
  4. Build a tiny page first, then commit and push.
  5. Publish via GitHub Pages and test on a second device.
GitHub basic workflow (repo, commit, push) GitHub Pages quickstart

4. Why GitHub Matters for Educators

Version history: you can always roll back when an experiment fails.
Collaboration: others can review, improve, and reuse your tools.
Transparency: every change is visible and attributable.
Publishing: GitHub Pages lets you share practical tools with staff, students, and community.
GitHub Pages quickstart GitHub workflow basics (repo, branch, commit, pull request)

5. Simple Publish Workflow

  1. Create a repository for your project.
  2. Build locally with a small first version.
  3. Commit changes frequently with clear messages.
  4. Push to GitHub and enable Pages deployment.
  5. Share the URL and iterate based on real use.

Quick Readiness Checklist