Day-by-day curriculum

Before Day 1 — ~15 minutes with a parent

Theme: "Show up to Day 1 with everything already working."

Every camper completes a short setup checklist the week before camp starts. A parent creates a Replit Core account (parent-owned, parent-paid), and the camper signs in, forks the starter template, and clicks Run to confirm everything works. AI access is built into Replit — no separate API keys or accounts needed. We'd rather fix a broken setup on a Sunday than have your camper sit out the kickoff.

Deliverable: Camper can log in to Replit, the account shows Core, and the starter template runs successfully. If anything fails, email us before Day 1 and we'll get on a 10-min call.

Enrolled families receive the setup guide link by email the week before camp.

Day 1 (Tuesday) — Setup & first working tool

Theme: "By the end of today, something you built is running in the cloud."

Today's goal

• Sign in to Replit, confirm your OpenAI API key works inside a Repl, fork the starter scaffolding from GitHub
• Generate and run your first tool — type something in, get something AI-generated back from gpt-4o-mini, see it on screen
• Understand the basic shape of every tool you'll build: ask the user something, send it to the OpenAI API, show the result

Deliverable: A working tool running in your Replit — type something in, get something AI-generated back.

Bonus moves (if you finish early)

• Wire in a second prompt mode (e.g., "explain like I'm 10" vs "explain like I'm in college")
• Add a small bit of state so the tool remembers the last result
• Polish the UI — make it feel intentional, not generic

Tools introduced: Replit, OpenAI API (gpt-4o-mini), GitHub.

Day 2 (Thursday) — Tech spec + scaffold

Theme: "Before you build, know what you're building."

Today's goal

• Pick a project direction (AI study planner, daily personal dashboard, news / celebrity tracker, homework breakdown tool, content generator, goal planner)
• Write a tech spec (spec.md): who it's for, the one thing it does, input → output, APIs needed
• Hand the spec to Replit Agent and scaffold the project structure — architecture in place, no features yet

Deliverable: A tech spec (spec.md) plus a running scaffold — ready for design (Day 3) and the build (Day 4).

Bonus moves (if you finish early)

• Add a stretch-goals section to your spec for later features
• Map out your routes and where the AI calls will happen

Tools introduced: Prompt structure (role, context, constraint, format).

Day 3 (Saturday) — Design Inspiration (anti-AI slop)

Theme: "AI can build you anything — but first, know what you want it to look like."

Today's goal

• Define "AI slop" and learn to spot it in real products
• Gather design references from multiple sources (Coolors, Google Fonts, Variant, Pinterest, real apps) into a references folder an agent can work from
• Articulate your design direction in one sentence — no building yet

Deliverable: A design references folder with 5–10 items (palettes, fonts, app screenshots) in day-03/design/references/, plus your design vibe posted in Discord.

Bonus moves (if you finish early)

• Go deeper on references — component styles, spacing, micro-interactions from apps you love
• Write a "don't do this" list of slop your agent should avoid on Day 4

Optional office hours: 3:00-4:00 PM ET / 12:00-1:00 PM PT for peer review of references and design-direction help.

Tools introduced: Coolors, Google Fonts, Variant, Pinterest.

Day 4 (Sunday) — Design Spec + Build v1

Theme: "You've been planning. Now watch it come to life."

Today's goal

• Turn your references into a formal design spec (design-spec.md) using Replit Agent
• Hand both specs (tech + design) to Agent and have it build v1 — works like the spec, looks like the design
• Evaluate and iterate: spot what doesn't match your specs, describe the fix, let Agent fix it, evaluate again. You're directing, not coding.

Deliverable: A running v1 with intentional design built from your specs. Both specs + working app pushed to GitHub.

Bonus moves (if you finish early)

• Add memory (localStorage) so the tool remembers the user across sessions
• Tighten the design pass — spacing, states, and microcopy in your app's voice

Optional office hours: 3:00-4:00 PM ET / 12:00-1:00 PM PT for debugging and helping students whose v1 didn't land.

Tools introduced: the design-spec and build-v1 Agent Skills.

Day 5 (Tuesday) — Feature Review + Midpoint Demos

Theme: "Before you build more, decide what matters most."

Today's goal

• Evaluate your feature ideas: "need to have" vs. "nice to have"
• Prioritize what to build next based on user value, not personal excitement
• Give a 60-second midpoint demo — show the app running with a real input and output — and give/receive product feedback

Deliverable: A completed 60-second midpoint demo and a clear direction for the feature(s) you'll build next.

Bonus moves (if you finish early)

• Write a one-line problem statement for the single feature that matters most
• Leave specific, useful feedback on two other students' demos

Tools introduced: need-vs-nice prioritization, Discord feedback threads, the 60-second demo format.

Day 6 (Thursday) — Agents + Automation

Theme: "Make your app work while you sleep."

Today's goal

• Learn the three kinds of automation: scheduled jobs, bots, and recurring tasks — you describe what you want, the AI builds it
• Use Replit Connectors (one-click OAuth) and Scheduled Deployments so your code runs on a timer even when the browser is closed
• Add one working automation to your project, or build the guided Discord homework-reminder bot

Deliverable: One working automation — a scheduled job, a bot, or a recurring task — verified by seeing it fire at least once.

Bonus moves (if you finish early)

• Flip USE_AI = True so the reminder writes a fresh message each run
• Wire up the Discord Connector for an interactive bot instead of a one-way webhook

Tools introduced: Replit Connectors, Scheduled Deployments, the add-automation Agent Skill, the reminder_bot.py starter.

Day 7 (Saturday) — Ethics, GTM + Ship

Theme: "Ship responsibly. Ship to real people. Ship ready."

Today's goal

• Understand AI ethics for your own app: privacy, bias, security, content safety, transparency — and run the ethics-review skill on it
• Learn the difference between cloud and local LLMs and why it matters
• Write a 5-second pitch and a GTM plan with the gtm-plan skill, then ship one real GTM action in class

Deliverable: ethics-review.md saved, a written GTM plan and pitch, and one real GTM action shipped (posted, texted, or shared).

Office hours (strongly recommended)

• Friction pass — find and fix your 3 worst friction moments
• Demo rehearsal — pair up, run your 60-second demo timed, twice
• Final push — all code to GitHub, live URL works, demo path locked

Optional office hours: 3:00-4:00 PM ET / 12:00-1:00 PM PT for polish, demo rehearsal, GitHub push, and deployment.

Day 8 (Sunday) — Demo Day

Theme: "The thing you came here to do."

Schedule (2:00-4:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM-1:00 PM PT)

• 2:00-2:10 — Welcome, demo order, and quick mic/screen-share check
• 2:10-3:40 — Live student demos (parents invited): 60 seconds to demo + 30 seconds for Q&A / feedback
• 3:40-4:00 — Awards + closing (Pixel Perfect, Under the Hood, Built for Humans)

Outcomes — every student leaves with:

• A working AI-powered tool deployed on Replit
• A working automation — a scheduled job, bot, or recurring task that runs on its own
• A 60-second demo video
• A GitHub portfolio repo + live Replit URL; public only when parent-approved
• A spot in the alumni community
• AI Builders Camp swag