CLI & Terminal Mastery

Objective: Master the file system using the command line interface.

Estimated time: ~30 min. CLI fluency is non-negotiable for AI-assisted development. Your IDE has a terminal, your AI agent runs commands in it, and you need to read the output. This lab builds that muscle memory.

Prerequisite: Ensure you have your platform guide open:

• Terminal Guide for Windows
• Terminal Guide for Mac/Linux

🛠️ Mission 1: The Project Skeleton

Your first task is to build a professional project directory using only the terminal.

1. Open your Terminal.
2. Navigate to your Desktop.
3. Create the following structure:

   /AI-Research-Project
   ├── /data
   ├── /scripts
   ├── /outputs
   └── project_notes.md

Commands to use: mkdir, cd, touch (or echo > for Windows).

Verify: Run ls (Mac) or dir (Win) inside AI-Research-Project. You should see 3 folders + 1 file. On Mac you can also try tree for a visual overview (install with brew install tree if needed).

🕵️ Mission 2: The Search & Inspect

We have "hidden" a research file in this repository (simulated).

1. Download the project ZIP (provided in class) and unzip it.
2. Navigate into the folder via CLI.
3. List all files, including hidden ones. What is inside .secret_ai_prompt?
4. Use cat or type to read the contents of the main research draft.

Commands to use: ls -la (Mac) or dir (Win), type/cat.

Tip: Hidden files start with a dot (.). On Mac/Linux, ls alone will not show them — you need the -a flag: ls -la.

⚔️ Mission 3: The Script Execution

Now, let's run a simple Python script that an AI agent wrote for us.

1. Move into the /scripts folder.
2. Create a file called vibe_check.py.
3. Paste the following code:

   print("Checking project status...")
   print("AI Workspace: ACTIVATED")

4. Run it: python vibe_check.py.

🚀 Mission 4: The Shared Memory (agents.md)

This is the most important part of an agentic workflow.

1. Create agents.md in your project root.
2. Write your current objective in the file using the terminal:
   • Mac: echo "# Current Task: Mastering CLI" > agents.md
   • Win: echo "# Current Task: Mastering CLI" | Out-File -FilePath agents.md
3. Read it back to verify.

🏆 Final Challenge: The Clean Up

A professional developer keeps a clean workbench.

1. Delete the /data folder (it was empty anyway).
2. Move project_notes.md into /outputs.
3. Rename outputs to research_results.

Commands to use: rmdir, mv or move.