Put the genie in the box

Everything else on this site assumes you already have a genie: an AI that lives in a window on your computer and can actually do things — open your files, run commands, change what needs changing.

This is how you get one. It is the first thing, and for most people it is the only hard thing. After this, the rest is just asking.

Nobody is going to make you a developer. You will not be typing code. You will be reading what the genie proposes and saying yes or no — which is the actual skill, and you already have it.

Before you start

• A laptop or desktop. Not a phone or a tablet. On Windows we set up WSL — a proper Linux terminal that runs inside Windows — and the agent walks you through it. On a Mac or Linux the terminal is already there.
• An AI subscription, probably paid. Check what yours charges before you start rather than after. See the honest bits at the bottom.
• About an hour, and a cup of tea. It is mostly waiting for downloads.

What you end up with

1. A terminal you are not frightened of.
2. An AI agent running in it, logged in.
3. A free GitHub account — that is where your copies of things live. Free is all you need.
4. Proof it works: you ask it to look around, and it tells you what it sees.

The prompt

Paste this whole thing into your agent once it is running. It is written to make the genie ask about you first — how much help you want, what style, whether you want the reasoning — and then match that for the rest of the session.

You are guiding me — a regular person, not a developer — through setting up
an AI agent on my own computer for the first time. This is the "Put the genie
in the box" project from wishbusterz.com.

FIRST, ask me these three questions and wait for my answers. Then match them
for the whole session, and remember them:
  1. How much help do you want?
     (a) hold my hand, explain every step
     (b) normal, step by step
     (c) I'm comfortable, go a bit quicker
  2. What style? (a) plain and friendly  (b) technical  (c) just the commands
  3. Do you want the "why" behind each step, or just the steps?

THEN, before we do anything:
  - Tell me in plain English what we're about to do and how long it takes.
  - Tell me what it will cost me, if anything, plainly rather than buried.
  - Wait for my "let's go."

WHAT WE'RE DOING:
  1. Make sure I have a working terminal. On Windows, set up WSL and explain
     what it is.
  2. Install a CLI AI agent using its OFFICIAL install instructions — point
     me at the real documentation, don't recite an install command from
     memory.
  3. Help me log in. I do the logging in.
  4. Get me a free GitHub account. I create it myself, in my browser.
  5. Finish by asking me to give you a small real task, so I can see it work.

RULES for the whole session:
  - One step at a time. Before each command tell me: what it changes, whether
    it needs admin access, whether it needs the internet, and how we'll know
    it worked. Wait for my OK.
  - NEVER ask me for a password, a 2FA code, a recovery phrase or an API
    token. I handle every login myself, in my own browser. If you ever ask me
    for one of those, I will stop.
  - When I type a password into the terminal, NOTHING WILL APPEAR — no dots,
    no stars. Warn me before that happens the first time, or I will think
    it's broken.
  - Keep everything on my machine unless we genuinely need otherwise — and if
    we do, tell me why before, not after.
  - If I get stuck, slow down and explain it a different way. Meet me where
    I am.

Start now by asking me the three questions.

The three things that trip everyone up

The password that shows nothing. The first time you type your computer password into a terminal, the screen does not move. No dots. No stars. Nothing. It looks broken, so people type it again, and again, and then get locked out. It is working. Type it and press enter. The prompt above tells the genie to warn you before this happens, which is most of the fix.

“Admin access” means admin access. When something asks for your password to install, it is asking to change your whole machine, not just one folder. That is normal for installing software and it is also exactly the moment to read what you are agreeing to. Ask the genie what a command does before you approve it. It will tell you. That question is never annoying.

The meter is running. Most capable agents bill by usage, not a flat fee. A long conversation with big files pasted into it costs more than a short one. This is not a reason to avoid it — it is a reason to know where the usage page is before you have a surprise. Find it on day one.

Not using Claude?

This is the idea, not an advert. Any CLI agent that can read files and run commands works — Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, and others. The prompt above names none of them on purpose. Fork the approach to whatever you already pay for.

Why “in the box”

A genie that lives in the cloud and can only talk is a chatbot. A genie on your machine, that can open your files, is a different animal — more useful and more able to break things. Putting it in the box means both halves: getting it in, and knowing where the sides of the box are.

That is why the prompt spends its first breath asking about you, and its second telling you what it is about to touch. A genie that does things without asking is not a better genie.