The developer toolchain

Module 2 introduces the six tools you will use to write and ship software, one per lesson. Each tool is introduced as the answer to a problem you have just started to feel — not as a feature tour. The order is felt-problem order (per Phase 2 D-20): IDE, terminal, runtime, package manager, git plus GitHub-as-tool, then AI coding agents. Each lesson is short to medium and pairs a concept with a hands-on exercise in your Codespace.

This module is pre-loop — like Module 1, every Loop check names intent (per D-22). The loop itself lands in Module 3.

What this module builds

By the end of this module, you can name and operate the six tools every later module assumes you already know — editor, terminal, runtime, package manager, version control, and the AI coding agent itself.

Each lesson builds on the last:

• Lesson 1 — The IDE: you can name the editor category and find your way around its three regions (files, editor, bottom panel) → sets up Lesson 2 by pointing at the bottom panel as where commands go.
• Lesson 2 — The terminal: you can run five basic commands (pwd, ls, cd, clear, mkdir) and read what comes back → sets up Lesson 3 by making "type a tool's name to run it" a move you already trust.
• Lesson 3 — The runtime (Node): you can say what a runtime is, name Node as JavaScript's, and confirm yours works with one command → sets up Lesson 4 by noting Node needs code to run, and its install partner is next.
• Lesson 4 — The package manager (npm): you can read a package.json, explain each dependency, and know npm install fills node_modules/ → sets up Lesson 5 by flagging that the shopping list gets tracked in version control and the downloaded code does not.
• Lesson 5 — git and GitHub: you can run the daily rhythm (git status → git add → git commit → git push) and say what each step does → sets up Lesson 6 by making that save-and-share rhythm the one your AI teammate works alongside.
• Lesson 6 — AI coding agents: you can name the two agents this course supports, install the one you picked in Module 0, and say why an agent needs an ignore-file → sets up Module 3, where you learn what to actually do with the agent: the loop, in depth.

The thread that ties it together: each tool is the answer to a problem you have just started to feel, and every one of them runs from the same window — so by Lesson 6 you are operating a full bench, ready to brief a teammate who works on that same surface.