Setup & Day 0 Checklist

Complete this checklist before Monday, July 20, 2026. Getting set up ahead of time means Day 1 starts with hitting the ground running. If anything below doesn't work, come to the optional setup session or ask on the course Slack channels.

Optional setup session — Friday, July 17

We'll hold an optional office-hours setup session on Friday, July 17, 2026, 10:30–11:30 AM ET on Zoom. Drop in for any part of it — instructors will help you work through this checklist live.

What you need

Just three primary things — everything else is provided:

• A laptop you can bring (in person) or use at home (remote).
• The ability to install software on it.
• An internet connection.

There is no cost to NOAA and NCICS participants: compute, cloud resources, and AI usage costs are covered through a partnership with AWS.

Accounts

Details and invitations are sent after you register — links will be posted here as they become available.

1. Claude account — access to Claude, Claude Cowork, and Claude Code is provided through the course. Watch for an invitation email after registration. Sign in with Google using your NCSU email, unless Jonathan has explicitly told you to use a different email.
2. NCICS GitLab account — if you don't have one, please reach out to the instructional staff.
3. Course AWS access — model access and cloud compute for all weeks is provisioned for you. Access instructions arrive before the course starts.
4. Course Slack — the invitation to the course workspace is sent after registration. This is where questions, links, and announcements live.

Installs

1. Claude Code — follow the install instructions at code.claude.com/docs.
2. Claude Desktop — follow the install instructions here: Claude Desktop.
3. Terminal App — For the end of Week 1, and all subsequent weeks, you'll need a terminal app. If you have questions about this, please reach out to the instructional staff.

Meet Aca, your AI Course Assistant

The course provides an AI Course Assistant called Aca that lives inside Claude — nothing to install, it's provisioned to your account. Once your Claude account is set up, run Aca init: a ~5-minute interview that personalizes how it helps you for the rest of the course. See the full AI Course Assistant (Aca) page for what else it can do.

Verify your setup

Don't just install these — make sure they work! All of these should be working before Day 1. If you have questions, please attend the setup session and/or reach out to instructional staff.

Stuck?

Ask on the course Slack channels, or bring it to the July 17 setup session — please don't wait until the morning of Day 1.