AI Terminal Course

> The first terminal-only AI engineering course.
> No videos. No slides. Just you, the terminal, and real API calls.

What is this?

Learn AI engineering by doing, not reading. Type every command. See real responses. Build production patterns.

Think vimtutor, but for AI engineering.

Quick Start

``bash


Try it instantly (no install):

npx ai-terminal-course

Or install globally:

npm install -g ai-terminal-course
ai-terminal
`

First run: You'll be prompted to add your OpenAI API key.

`bash


Setup (one-time):


mkdir -p ~/.ai-terminal-course
echo "OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-key" > ~/.ai-terminal-course/.env
`

Get your API key: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys

What You'll Learn

20 modules. 30 min each. $10 total cost.

$3

1. Tokens - How LLMs see text
2. LLM Calls - Your first API call
3. Streaming - Real-time responses
4. Embeddings - Semantic search
5. Context & Memory - Handling conversations
6. Structured Outputs - JSON, validation

$3

7. Tool Calling - Let LLMs use functions
8. Prompt Engineering - Write effective prompts
9. RAG Basics - Retrieval augmented generation
10. Chunking - Document processing
11. Observability - Monitoring with Helicone/Portkey
12. Cost Optimization - Caching, model selection

$3

13. Evals & Testing - Validate AI outputs
14. Agentic Patterns - ReAct, planning, reflection
15. Context Engineering - Context window optimization
16. LLM Gateways - Fallbacks, routing, retries
17. Guardrails & Safety - PII detection, content moderation

$3

18. Semantic Caching - Similarity-based caching
19. Production Monitoring - Logs, traces, costs
20. Capstone Project - Ship your first AI feature

Who This Is For

- ✅ You can code (any language)
- ✅ You're comfortable with the terminal
- ✅ You have ZERO AI knowledge (perfect!)

Why Terminal-Only?

No distractions. No switching between browser and editor. No video scrubbing. No markdown hunting.

Just focused practice. One module at a time.

Real learning happens when you type every command and see every response.

Time & Cost

- Duration: ~10 hours (4 weeks at 30 min/day)
- API Cost: ~$10 (actual production API calls)
- Your time: Priceless (you'll ship AI features)

Commands

`bash


Start/continue course:

ai-terminal-course

Jump to specific module:

ai-terminal-course 5

See your progress:

ai-terminal-course
`

Progress Tracking

Your progress is automatically saved to ~/.ai-terminal-course/progress.json.

Track:
- Completed modules
- Time spent
- API costs
- Learning streak 🔥

Tech Stack You'll Use

- APIs: OpenAI GPT-4, Claude 3.5
- Tools: Helicone, Portkey, Langfuse
- Patterns: RAG, agents, tool calling, structured outputs
- Production: Caching, monitoring, cost optimization

Philosophy

- ❌ No theory lectures
- ✅ Applied skills only
- ❌ No copy-paste
- ✅ Type everything
- ❌ No fake demos
- ✅ Real API calls with real costs

You'll understand why things cost what they do, how to optimize, and what production actually looks like.

After This Course

You'll be able to:
- Ship AI features to production
- Debug LLM issues
- Optimize costs and latency
- Build RAG systems
- Create AI agents
- Monitor and improve AI quality

Development

Want to contribute or run locally?

`bash


Clone repo:

git clone https://github.com/josharsh/ai-terminal-course.git
cd ai-terminal-course

Install:

npm install

Run:

npm start
`

License

MIT

---

Stop reading. Start building.

`bash
npx ai-terminal-course
``