Tutorial 1 Orientation en SG

Tutorial 1 · Orientation

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

Goal: get the project running, meet your AI agent, and run the test gate once — so everything after this is muscle memory.

← Back to Home · Next: Tutorial 2 How the Code Works

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1. Why use a joke app, ah?

Learning to work with a coding agent is easiest when the code is small, real, and low-stakes. LockedIn CLI is all three:

• Small: one core file, one entry point, one test suite, zero dependencies.
• Real: it installs as a global lockedin command and behaves like a genuine AI CLI.
• Low-stakes: it's satire. If your agent makes the humblebrags 20% more humble, nobody gets paged.

That combination lets you focus properly on the actual skill: describing a change well, letting the agent do the work, and verifying the result.

2. Get the code

git clone https://github.com/xjamesmorris/lockedin-cli.git
cd lockedin-cli

Check your Node version (need 18+):

node --version

Nothing to install lah — no npm install of dependencies, because there aren't any. That's deliberate: fewer moving parts, more learning.

3. Run it

Try the real thing first:

node bin/lockedin.js            # the splash + banner
node bin/lockedin.js post       # a generated "thought-leadership" post
node bin/lockedin.js aura       # scan your professional aura
node bin/lockedin.js            # (no args) drops you into the chat session

Type /help inside the session, poke around, then /exit. Everything you see is generated locally from word pools — no network, no accounts. Full command list: Command Reference.

4. Run the test gate

This one is the most important command in the whole tutorial:

npm test

You should see one wall of green checks ending in something like pass 318. That suite is your safety net. From here on, the workflow is always:

change something → npm test → only ship if it's green.

5. Meet your agent

Open your coding agent in the project folder so it can see the files. With GitHub Copilot CLI, that's:

copilot

Then, to get your bearings, ask the agent to orient you (not to change anything yet). Try a prompt like:

"Give me a two-paragraph tour of this repository: what each top-level file and folder is for, and how I run the app and the tests. Don't change anything."

Read its answer against what you saw in steps 3–4. Getting comfortable asking the agent to explain before it edits is a core habit — we'll lean on it a lot.

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✅ Try it with your agent

1. Ask the agent: "What does node bin/lockedin.js reflect 'my coffee was cold' print, and which file decides that output?" Confirm its answer by running the command yourself.
2. Ask it to run the test suite and report the result: "Run npm test and tell me how many checks pass."

You've now seen the app, the tests, and the agent. Next, we'll look at why this codebase is so agent-friendly — the design that lets you hand off changes with confidence.

Next: Tutorial 2 How the Code Works