[One line: what this project is.] (e.g. "A scouting web app for recording and ranking other teams' robots at competition.")
Built by students for FRC / FTC / FLL — planned and coded with AI help, using our team's project template.
🌳 Never used GitHub before? Read
GIT-BASICS.mdfirst — one page, and it's how you get this project onto your laptop without losing work later.
- 📄 Open
DESIGN.mdand fill it in. This is the plan for your app — what you're building, who it's for, the rules, the data. Don't write any code yet. A clear plan is the difference between an app that works and one that doesn't. - 🤖 Hand the plan to an AI and build step by step. The ready-made prompt is at the bottom of
DESIGN.md. It tells the AI to ask you questions, build the smallest working version first, and teach you as it goes. - 🔄 Keep
DESIGN.mdin sync. When the app changes, the document changes too, plus a line in its Change Log.DESIGN.mdis the single source of truth: if it's not written there, it's not part of the app.
| File / folder | What it's for |
|---|---|
DESIGN.md |
Start here. Your living plan + the AI build prompt. Always kept up to date. |
README.md |
This file — the front page of your project. Update the title and one-liner above. |
TEAM.md |
Our team's context for the AI — our tools, our limits, who to ask. You usually don't need to change this. |
GIT-BASICS.md |
New to GitHub? How to save your work so you never lose it. One page. |
.gitignore |
Lists files Git should ignore — including anything with secrets. |
LICENSE |
The rules for reusing this (MIT — basically "use it, keep the credit line"). |
💡 There's no code folder yet — that's normal. You don't have one until you start building. When you get there, the AI will create it for you (usually called
/src).
Fill in DESIGN.md ─► Hand it to the AI ─► Build one small step
▲ │
│ ▼
└────── Update DESIGN.md + Change Log ◄── It works! Test it
The loop never ends: every change to the app loops back into the document. That's what keeps the plan trustworthy all the way to competition — and lets next year's team understand what you built.
Some apps need secret keys — an API key for The Blue Alliance or Statbotics, say. They're like passwords. Never commit them to GitHub: once something is pushed, treat it as public forever.
The rules:
- ❌ Never put real keys, passwords, or teammates' personal info in
DESIGN.md, in code, in the README, or in an AI chat. - ✅ Keep real secrets in a file that Git ignores (the
.gitignorealready lists common ones). - 🧑🏫 If you're unsure, ask a mentor before pushing. It's much easier to keep a secret out than to remove one after it's public.
😬 Already committed something you shouldn't have? Deleting it in your next save does not remove it — Git keeps the old version. Tell a mentor today; see
GIT-BASICS.md. Nobody's in trouble, but it needs fixing fast.
(Fill this in as you build — the AI can help you write it.)
- To run it locally: [ ... e.g. "open
src/index.htmlin a browser" ] - Where it's hosted / shared: [ ... e.g. a GitHub Pages link ]
- Who can use it: [ ... ]
Check it against the success criteria and test checklist in DESIGN.md (Section 12). The app is finished when it passes those — not when it merely looks finished. Then make sure DESIGN.md matches the final app.
This repo was created from our team's software project template, so every student project has the same structure and the same planning document — anyone can pick up anyone else's project and understand it. Improving the template itself? Edit the template repo, not this copy.
From another team? You're welcome to use this — that's why it's public. It's MIT licensed: take it, change it, make it yours; just keep the credit line in LICENSE.
Made for FRC / FTC / FLL student software projects. Plan it, build it, understand it. 🏆