Git Workshop & Introduction to Generative AI

Overview

Hey, welcome to the Git Workshop & Introduction to Generative AI! This workshop is designed to help you get started with Git and GitHub, and to introduce you to the world of generative AI.

Resources

• Slide deck
• Git cheat sheet
• Google's Prompt Engineering guide
• OpenAI's guide

Workshop

Step 1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Birmingham-AI/git-workshop.git

Step 2. Install the dependencies

cd app
npm install

Step 3. Create a .env file and add our API key

touch .env && echo "OPENAI_API_KEY=TO_BE_SHARED" > .env

Step 4. Install VS Code extensions

When you open the project in VS Code, you will be prompted to install the recommended extensions. Click "Install All" to install the extensions. In case they don't load, there's only one: REST Client.

Step 5. Start the application

npm run watch

You'll see a response of Server is running on port 3000 in the terminal.

Step 6. Test the application

Open the requests/samples.http file and send the healthcheck request to the server. You should see a response with a status of 200 (which means everything is working fine).

Step 7. Create a new branch

git checkout -b feature/your-name/your-feature

Step 8. Make a change

Let's start by adding a new endpoint to the server. Copy the routes/healthcheck.js file and paste it in the same folder. Rename the file to routes/<yourFeature>.js.

Then, open the app.js file and add import the new route file at the top of the file:

const yourFeature = require("./routes/yourFeature");

Finally, add the new route to the server:

app.use("/yourFeature", yourFeature);

You should now be able to test the new endpoint by sending a request to http://localhost:3000/yourFeature using the requests/samples.http file.

However, you haven't modified the prompt yet, so you'll just get the same response as the healthcheck endpoint. This is where you start your feature!

Your file has a hardcodedPrompt variable that you can modify to change the prompt. You'll spend the remainder of this middle portion of the workshop modifying this prompt to generate different responses. This is called prompt engineering.

Step 9. Create a commit

As you make changes to the code, you'll want to create a commit to save your progress. You can do this by running:

git add .
git commit -m "Add new endpoint for <yourFeature>"

Step 10. Push the commit

When you're ready to share your changes with the rest of the team, you can push your commit to the remote repository:

git push origin feature/your-name/your-feature

Step 11. Create a pull request

And, finally, you can create a pull request on GitHub. You'll use the description to explain the changes you've made and to share your strategy for prompt engineering with the rest of the group. There's a template that will help you structure your pull request.

Did you reach the end?

You're not limited to only the assigned endpoint! If you've got time — and curiosity — create a new branch and add a new endpoint to the server. You can use the same prompt engineering strategy you've learned to generate responses for this new endpoint.

Start by checking out main so you're not working on the same branch as your previous feature:

git checkout main

Then, create a new branch and follow the same steps as before:

git checkout -b feature/your-name/your-new-feature