Lesson 1 — Setup

> 4 minutes · install Node, get a key, grab the starter repo

We're not going to spend half this course on environment setup. Three things to install or download. If you already have Node and a text editor, skip to step 2.

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Step 1 — Install Node.js (60 seconds)

Open a terminal and run:

```bash node -v ```

If you see `v18` or higher, you're set. Skip to step 2.

If not — go to [nodejs.org](https://nodejs.org) and click the big "LTS" download button. Run the installer. Re-open your terminal. Run `node -v` again. You should see something like `v22.5.1`.

Why Node? Because the AI calls happen on a server, not in your browser. Even if you eventually want a Python or .NET version, the *flow* is the same — and Node has the smallest install footprint of any starter.

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Step 2 — Get your free Anthropic API key (90 seconds)

Go to [console.anthropic.com](https://console.anthropic.com)
Sign up with your email (no credit card required for the free tier)
Click API Keys in the left sidebar
Click Create Key, name it something like "30-min-chatbot", and copy the key now — you can't see it again

You'll get $5 of free credit. This whole course uses about 5 cents.

> Heads up: treat that key like a password. Don't paste it into Slack, don't commit it to GitHub, don't put it in screenshots. We'll show you the right way to handle it in the next step.

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Step 3 — Grab the starter repo (60 seconds)

You have two options:

Option A — Clone with git (preferred)

```bash git clone https://github.com/appliedaitech/30-min-chatbot.git cd 30-min-chatbot ```

Option B — Download the zip

Click the Download Starter Repo button below this video, unzip it, and `cd` into the folder in your terminal.

Either way, you should now be in a folder that looks like this:

``` 30-min-chatbot/ ├── server/index.js ├── public/index.html ├── package.json ├── .env.example └── README.md ```

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Step 4 — Install dependencies (30 seconds)

Three packages. Just run:

```bash npm install ```

You'll see some output. When it says `added 91 packages`, you're done.

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Step 5 — Drop your key in (30 seconds)

```bash cp .env.example .env ```

Open `.env` in your editor. You'll see:

``` ANTHROPIC_API_KEY= PORT=3000 ```

Paste your key after the equals sign. No spaces. Save. Close.

That's it. Setup done. Move to Lesson 2 — we're going to write the system prompt that turns Claude into "Comfort Zone's AI" instead of generic Claude.

Next: Lesson 2 — The Brain