Set up your AI coding tools

Chapter 1 · the toolchain before the topics

The hour

• Install Claude Code; run one --print call
• Hear what Antigravity is and when to reach for it
• Internalize the three-step coding loop

Why this is chapter 1

• You will write code in twenty weeks
• The AI tool is part of your toolchain
• Type the spec, not the file

Claude Code in one line

• claude --print "..." is a unix command
• stdin in, stdout out, non-zero on failure
• Pipe its output; do not paste

The quickstart

claude --print "Write a Python script that prints..." > hello.py
python3 hello.py

One spec. One file. One run.

Antigravity, briefly

• A richer IDE-style AI coding workspace
• Use it when you have several files in flight
• Not required here; the loop does not change

The loop

1. Write a precise spec (3–4 sentences)
2. Pipe it through the tool to a file
3. Run it; if it fails, refine the spec by one sentence

Make it real

./ai-pair-workflow.sh "Write a small Python program that ..."

The spec is the unit of work.

The switch that matters

--print (or the tool's equivalent)

• Without it: interactive session, pipeline hangs
• With it: composable in Make, scripts, CI

Takeaway

Save the spec next to the code. Treat both as source. You can rebuild any week's example from a one-paragraph spec.