Install the free tools

Install only what you will use this week. Extra tools become tabs you feel guilty about.

1. Browser

Use a current Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari. Update it when the phone or laptop offers. Old browsers still open HTML; they lie about JavaScript.

On a phone, that is already enough.

2. A place to type

Laptop. Install VS Code. Open a folder. Create index.html. That is the whole setup. Skip extensions until a lesson asks.

Phone. Use a notes app for the first copy-paste, then a playground (CodePen or similar) while you have data. Export the files. If you want an editor that stays on the device, Acode (Android) or a text editor that can share a file into the browser is enough.

You do not need a cloud IDE that dies when the bundle ends.

3. GitHub

1. Sign up at github.com/signup with the email you control.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication when it offers. A lost account is worse than a lost USB stick.
3. Create one repository named after the thing you will ship (makola-prices, sunday-rota) — not test123.

You can commit from the website. The command line can wait.

4. Later, not now

• Node.js and Next.js — when a lesson or a host asks.
• Cursor, Claude, or ChatGPT — useful; not a substitute for a file on disk.
• Paid themes, icon packs, stock photos.

When the folder exists, read Git without fear.