Class 4 · 4.1

Tools, setup & reading a real agents.md

Less talking, more doing. Meet the four IDE agents, get your environment ready, clone the starter, and read a hand-written agents.md line by line — the file that will drive tomorrow’s build.

🧰 Goal: set up and understand your project⏱ Read: 10 min🟡 First “yellow” (hands-on) day

01Three principles for today

Principle 1

It’s all optional

The point is to get a feel for the different agentic platforms. Try them all if you like, or just watch and pick the one you’ll stick with — Cursor, Copilot, or Claude Code (next week). You don’t need to do them all.

Principle 2

Your results will vary

Different models, different plans, free tiers — your output won’t match the demo. That’s part of the experience. Go with what you have.

Principle 3

Don’t get frustrated

If the agent spits nonsense (common on downgraded models): be patient, give feedback, and above all simplify, simplify, simplify. Shrink the scope, get something working, build from there.

When stuck, you have escape hatches

Delete everything and start again. Switch models. Or skip that product entirely and move to the next — there are plenty of options today. Most important of all: have fun with it.

02The four IDE agents you’ll meet

Tool	Maker	Notes
Cursor	Anysphere	VS Code–based, very popular, free trial. Today’s driver.
GitHub Copilot	GitHub / Microsoft	The classic plugin; also an agent mode inside VS Code.
Codex	OpenAI	IDE + autonomous task execution.
Antigravity	Google	Rules, workflows, parallel agent tasks; Gemini under the hood.

03Get set up: Node & the terminal

Reopen Cursor (File → New Window if needed) and go back to the Instant project from Class 2. Then install Node.js if you don’t have it — it’s the runtime tomorrow’s app needs.

Open the built-in terminal

In Cursor, View → Terminal opens a terminal pane. Don’t fear it — it looks like the 1980s, but it’s just a place to type commands. Add more with the + button.

Install Node from nodejs.org

Grab the installer for your platform (macOS/Windows/Linux), or use a package manager if you have one. Follow the course resources if anything looks different.

Confirm it worked

Run the version check. Anything after v22 is great.

Cursor terminal

$ node --version
v22.14.0            # anything after 22 is great

Move around & clone the starter

A few terminal basics, then we pull down the starter repo:

bash / powershell

$ pwd                 # print working directory — where am I?
/Users/ed/projects/instant

$ cd ..               # go up one level, into projects

$ git clone https://github.com/MuhammadUzair1/Vibe-Engineering-SMIT.git
Cloning into 'kanban'...   # the starter is now on your machine

$ cd kanban

PC vs. Mac

On Windows you’ll see backslashes in paths instead of forward slashes — same idea. Then switch projects in Cursor: File → New Window → Open Project and open the kanban folder. You’ll know it worked when KANBAN shows in block capitals, top-left.

Handy shortcuts: toggle the file sidebar with ⌘/Ctrl B, and the agent chat panel with ⌘/Ctrl ⌥ B.

04Reading a real agents.md

The whole repo is one file: a hand-written agents.md. (A lot of ceremony for one file — but cloning is good practice.) This file loads into the agent’s memory by default when we set it going. Right-click → Open Preview to see it rendered the way the agent interprets it. Here’s the shape of it, section by section:

kanban / agents.md

# Kanban project

## Business requirements
- An MVP of a Kanban-style project-management web app.
- One board only. Five fixed columns that can be renamed.
- Each card has a title and details only.
- Drag-and-drop to move cards between columns.
- Add a card; delete a card. Nothing more — no archive, no search.
- Priority: a slick, professional, gorgeous UI. Open with dummy data.

## Technical details
- A Next.js app, in a subdirectory called `frontend`.
- No persistence. No user login.
- Use popular libraries, as simple as possible, elegant UI.

## Color scheme
- (my usual deck colors — change or delete freely)

## Strategy
- Write a plan with success criteria for each phase, to be checked off.
- Scaffold, then rigorous unit testing, then execute the plan.
- Extensive integration testing with Playwright; fix defects.
- Only complete when the MVP is finished and tested, server running.

## Coding standards
- Latest, idiomatic library versions as of today.
- Keep it simple; never over-engineer; always simplify.
- No unnecessary defensive programming. No extra features.
- Be concise. Short READMEs. IMPORTANT: no emojis, ever.

Why it’s written this way

Precise, unambiguous, mostly positive

Lay requirements out clearly so it’s obvious what to build. Start simple (“one board”) — there’s time to get complicated over three weeks. A little repetition on important points is fine.

You don’t have to copy it exactly

A living document

You could write a minimal one, run it, delete the result, and rewrite it to fix where it went wrong — a very effective iterative technique. Technical details, colors and strategy are all optional; the model can infer a lot.

Why “no emojis, ever”

LLMs love sprinkling emojis. Beyond being tiresome, they can actually break builds on some Windows PCs. If you love emojis, delete the line and let it go to town.

05Cursor settings — pick your risk level

Open settings (⌘/Ctrl ⇧ J) → Agents → Auto-run. This is your call:

Setting	What happens	Use when…
Ask every time	Approve each action; you see every file it creates.	You’re new and want to watch each step.
Auto-run (sandboxed)	Runs automatically but contained.	You want speed with a safety net.
Run everything, unsandboxed (YOLO)	No approvals; it just goes.	You understand the risks and the project is low-risk — like this one.

Recommendation for the Kanban build

This project is low-risk, so YOLO is comfortable. If you’re unsure what you’re signing up for, start on ask every time or sandboxed, watch what it does, and graduate to YOLO when you’re ready.

Ready to build →

You’ve got the tools, a clean project, a real agents.md, and your risk level set. Next: drive Cursor in YOLO mode to build the Kanban app — or jump straight to Lab 2 and do it yourself.

✓ Key takeaways

Today’s tools are optional and your results will vary — stay patient and simplify when stuck.
Four IDE agents to know: Cursor, Copilot, Codex, Antigravity.
Basic terminal moves — pwd, cd, git clone — and Node v22+ get you set up.
A good agents.md is precise, simple, mostly positive, and a living document.
Choose your Cursor auto-run level by risk; YOLO suits low-risk builds.