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LockedIn CLI — a satire-themed tutorial for building with an AI agent

🌎 Language: Singlish (en-SG) — see all 33 languages

Welcome lah. This wiki is a hands-on, beginner-friendly tutorial for building a real command-line tool with an agentic AI coding assistant — using a very silly example so the learning is fun.

The example is LockedIn CLI: a mock "AI CLI" that parodies AI-era developer tools and professional-network "thought leadership." It has a gradient splash, an interactive chat session, slash commands, and a model that "thinks" very hard — and produces absolutely no professional value, on purpose. Under the jokes, though, it's a clean, well-tested Node.js project that's ideal for learning.

The bit is a teaching tool. You'll laugh at recruiter-spam inboxes while quietly picking up architecture, testing, and — most importantly — how to direct an AI agent to write and change real code for you.

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Who this one is for

• New to agentic / AI-assisted coding. You've maybe used a chat assistant, but you haven't yet driven an agent that edits files, runs tests, and ships changes. We go slowly on that part.
• Comfortable with programming fundamentals. You can read JavaScript, use a terminal, and follow a function. The code here is intermediate; the AI parts are beginner. (No prior framework experience needed — this is plain Node with zero dependencies.)

Any capable coding agent works. The examples use GitHub Copilot CLI lah (the same agent that wrote this project), but the workflow transfers to other agents too.

The one rule: test gate cannot anyhow 🧪

This project has a hard rule, and the whole tutorial revolves around it:

Nothing ships one unless npm test passes.

An AI agent can write a lot of code very quickly. The validation suite is how you stay in control of it. You'll learn to make the agent work behind that gate: describe the change, let it add tests, let it implement, and only accept the work when the suite is green.

How to use this tutorial properly

Work through the chapters in order, steady can already. Each one is short, ends with a "Try it with your agent" exercise, and builds on the last.

1. Tutorial 1 Orientation — set up the project, run it, meet your agent, and run the test gate for the first time.
2. Tutorial 2 How the Code Works — the architecture that makes this project easy (and safe) for an agent to change: a pure, testable core; seeded randomness; and the test suite.
3. Tutorial 3 Your First Agent Task — the main event: add a brand-new command end-to-end by directing the agent, test-first.
4. Tutorial 4 Prompting and Reviewing — prompt like a lead, review the agent's diffs, iterate, and keep momentum across sessions.
5. Tutorial 5 Localization — how the CLI speaks 33 languages, and how to direct an agent to add another (i18n, key parity, double-width and combining-mark layout).

Want the in-universe joke docs instead? They live at Command Reference (the original satirical "manual"). Using assistive technology? See Accessibility — the CLI has screen-reader, high-contrast, and low-distraction modes.

Contributing with a coding agent

Contributions welcome, no problem. Clone the repository and open it with any capable coding agent, such as Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex. Tell it to follow the repository instructions and these tutorials, review its changes, and run npm test before submitting. These are examples, not endorsements or built-in integrations.

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Prerequisites at a glance

• Node.js 18+ (Linux, macOS, or Windows — it's identical on all three).
• git, and an agent-capable coding assistant (e.g. GitHub Copilot CLI).
• ~30–60 minutes and a sense of humor.

Ready already? Go to Tutorial 1 Orientation.

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_{Satire. LockedIn CLI is a parody of AI-era command-line tools and "thought leadership" culture — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representative of LinkedIn, or any real company. Written by a large language model (GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Opus 4.8) at a human's direction, and licensed GPL-3.0-or-later. Run lockedin legal for the full disclaimer.}