Alex.Hammond.Learn AI

AI Foundations Day

Getting ready for your day.

What to have ready, how the day runs, and what you leave with. Read it once now, and again the day before.

What to have ready

Equipment

  • A laptop, Mac or Windows, charged and plugged in. You need permission to install software on it, and work laptops are sometimes locked down
  • Your phone, for security codes
  • A quiet space with a good internet connection
  • The video call link I send you, tested beforehand. You’ll share your screen all day

Accounts and access

  • The business Google account that will own everything, with its password. It should be the business’s account, not a member of staff’s. If you use Google Workspace, you need admin access too
  • Access to that account’s inbox, to confirm new sign-ups
  • Your domain login (GoDaddy, 123 Reg or similar), if you have a domain
  • A paid Claude plan, which Claude Code needs. You can sign up on the day, but having it ready saves time

Payment

  • A business card for Google Cloud billing. Firebase is free at small scale, but some features need a card on file, so we set a budget alert to make sure there are no surprises

Decisions

  • Who in the business will own the accounts long term
  • One or two things you’d like to build or automate. We’ll have talked about these on the call

Time

  • The full day, 9:30 to 17:00, with your phone on silent apart from security codes and no “just popping out”. Interruptions are the biggest risk to getting through everything

Nothing to buy beyond the Claude plan. You don’t need a server or any new hardware.

Free download

Start with the Skill

On the day we install App Foundations, a Skill that teaches Claude to work the way this day teaches: plain English, a sensible setup, and your keys kept safe. Download it now and have a read. It’s the best preview of the day.

Download SKILL.mdWhat’s in it

How the day works

i.

Your hands on the keyboard

You drive and I watch over the shared screen, all day. I coach, you do, so it sticks when you’re on your own.

ii.

You fix your own mistakes

When something goes wrong, you use AI to fix it while I watch. That’s the skill that lasts long after the day.

iii.

You finish on your own

The day ends with you making one small change by yourself and putting it live.

The day

Morning 9:30⁠–⁠13:00

  1. Welcome and goals What you want from the day, and from AI.
  2. What AI can do for your business And how the pieces fit together.
  3. Accounts and security Your accounts, owned by the business, with two-factor switched on.
  4. Claude and Claude Code Set up on your laptop.
  5. GitHub Your safe copy of everything.
  6. Recap

Afternoon 13:30⁠–⁠17:00

  1. 13:30
    Quick recap What you did this morning, and what this afternoon adds.
  2. 13:40
    Firebase Create a Firebase project under the business Google account, turn on Google login and set the budget alert straight away. Then Claude Code builds a practice app: a page with a login and a form that saves to the database. It’s for learning how the pieces connect, not a product.
  3. 14:25
    Security and secrets Lock down the security rules, then prove it: log out and check the data can’t be read. Then where your keys go (Firebase secrets) and where they never go (your code and GitHub).
  4. 14:55
    Break
  5. 15:10
    Backups Switch on scheduled database backups, so there’s always a copy.
  6. 15:25
    Cloudflare and your domain Set up your Cloudflare account with two-factor and add your domain. Before changing anything we save a copy of your existing settings, because a mistake here can stop your email. Then we point a new address at the practice app.
  7. 16:10
    Your solo run You change something in the practice app on your own, using Claude Code, and publish it. I only step in if you’re truly stuck.
  8. 16:40
    Handover and close We fill in your handover together, go through who owns which account, and agree what you’ll try in your first week.

The day is full. If the domain step runs over, I’ll send it home with you as written instructions.

Six things you leave with

  1. Two-factor switched on for Google, GitHub and Cloudflare
  2. Your keys kept in Firebase secrets or Apps Script’s Script Properties, never in your code
  3. Your database security rules locked down, with a test showing that someone who isn’t logged in can’t read anything
  4. A budget alert set in Google Cloud
  5. Backups switched on
  6. Each account saved in a password manager, plus a one-page list of who owns what

The two that matter most are the business owning every account, and the security rules being locked down. Get those wrong and they cause problems long after the day.

After the day

Your written handover

What was set up, where it lives, who owns each account, and how to get unstuck with AI.

Follow-up sessions

If you’d like more help, you can book time by the hour. Rate on request.

Questions before the day?

Get in touch through my contact form and I’ll come back to you.

Ask a question