Shortcuts stay out of the way while you are typing a note.
The written version of this session, with the commands and templates to copy.
This is the first session in every course on this platform. Read it once, start to finish, before you install anything. It takes fifteen minutes and saves you from guessing later.
Two questions get answered here: are you the right person for this, and what do you need before you start.
You want to get real work done with AI: business owner, freelancer, creator, student, career changer, nonprofit staff, or anyone with a project. You are comfortable with email, spreadsheets, and installing an app. You have never written a line of code. That is enough. That is exactly who this academy is built for.
Say it plainly: some basic computer knowledge is required. If you can open a browser, save a file, and find it again later, you have what it takes. You do not need to be a "computer person." If you are computer savvy but not a developer, you already have everything you need.
Who this is not for, yet: someone who has never used a computer beyond a phone. Get comfortable with a full keyboard, an open window, and a downloaded file first, then come back.
Four things, and you likely already have three.
That is the requirement, stated plainly, so nobody has to guess at it later. There is no second tool to buy, no API bill, and no usage meter to watch.
Claude Code comes in more than one shape, and they share one login and one brain.
Same subscription, same agent, same files. Switching later costs you nothing.
Every course is a stack of short sessions. Each has three parts: a short video showing the whole thing done once, a written walkthrough with any command already typed out to copy and paste, and a template in the vault, a checklist or ready-made file that turns the session into something you keep.
Watch the video first, then follow the written page with the template open in another tab. Do not try to redo it from memory. The page is there so you never have to.
A few sessions from now you install an AI coding agent. This academy teaches Claude Code by default: the curriculum is written against it, the commands on every page are its commands, and the Pro plan above is the only subscription any of it requires.
Two other agents do the same job. Codex runs on a ChatGPT account and Grok Build runs on an xAI one, and both have complete free walkthroughs in the Pick Your Agent course. They are there for readers who already live in those tools and would rather not add a subscription. They are alternatives, not the default path, and later sessions assume Claude Code unless they say otherwise.
If you have no strong reason to pick another one, pick Claude Code and stop thinking about it. It is a "pick one" choice, not a "learn all three" choice.
This habit matters more than any tool. Never run a command you do not understand, here or anywhere else.
Two checks, every time something looks unfamiliar:
Work inside a small project folder, not your whole computer, so a mistake stays contained. Build this habit now, before your first real command. It costs ten seconds and beats a bad afternoon.
Every lesson page has an "Ask the teacher" panel. A real person answers it. When the teacher is away, an AI teaching assistant drafts a reply so you are not left waiting, and the teacher reviews it before it goes out. Use it whenever a step does not match your screen: that mismatch is normal.
The template vault is the other place to lean on. Every session's template lives there, and you can return to any of them anytime.
You can say, out loud, which agent you are installing next and on which surface. For most people that sentence is "Claude Code, in the desktop app." You have also written "verify before you run: read the permission prompt, check the domain" on a sticky note where you will see it. That is the whole bar. Nothing to install, nothing to test, just a decision and a habit.
Template included: Members get a one-page "before you start" checklist: the four requirements, the one subscription and what it includes, the two Claude Code surfaces and which to start on, the two verify-before-you-run checks, the official domain list, and where to get help. Find it in your member dashboard under Templates.
Short on time? Agentic Quarks will implement this end to end, wired into your stack, and hand you the keys.
Welcome. If you run a business or a nonprofit, comfortable with email and spreadsheets, you are exactly who this academy was built for. You do not need to write code. If you are computer savvy but not a developer, you already have what it takes.
You run a small business or a nonprofit, and you are comfortable with email, spreadsheets, and installing an app. You have never written a line of code, and that is enough. That is exactly who this academy is built for.
Four things, and you likely already have three. A Mac or Windows computer from the last five or so years. An internet connection. One paid AI plan, not three, one. And about an hour a week, because sessions build on each other.
Every session has three parts: a short video showing the whole thing done once, a written walkthrough with commands ready to copy, and a template in the vault you keep. If a step ever confuses you, the ask the teacher panel is right there.
A few sessions from now you install an AI coding agent: Claude Code, Codex, or Grok Build. All three do the same job, working on your computer for you. Which one you pick depends on the subscription you already pay for.
Never run a command you do not understand. Keep permission prompts on, read what the agent is about to do, and ask it to explain anything unclear before you approve. Then check the domain: every command here points at claude.ai, chatgpt.com, or x.ai, and nowhere else.
Every lesson page has an Ask the teacher panel, and a real person answers it. When the teacher is away, an AI teaching assistant drafts a reply so you are not left waiting, and the teacher reviews it before it goes out.
You are done when you can say, out loud, which of the three tools you are installing next. Write verify before you run, read the permission prompt, check the domain, on a sticky note where you will see it. That is the whole bar today.
You now know who this academy is for and what you need to start: a computer, an internet connection, one AI plan, and an hour a week. Next session, you will learn what AI actually is, in plain English, before you touch a single tool.
Who this is for, what you need, and your first AI agent installed
7 sessions, 17 min of video, about 1.9 hours to do, 7 free.
Cancel anytime from your account page, and a 14-day money back on your first month that you trigger yourself. Prefer to pay once? Lifetime All-Access is $399.
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