Tutorials & Projects
These beginner-friendly tutorials walk you through building small research tools and practicing core development workflows with AI coding assistance and the Research Computing OpenAI-compatible API. Each project stays small on purpose: the goal is to practice a clear workflow, review generated code, and make focused improvements.
Before you start
Set up API access first, then pick a project:
- LLM API Access — create an API key, find a model ID, and test the endpoint.
- Connect VS Code to the RC API — use VS Code Chat with the RC LLM gateway.
Project tutorials
Each project uses the RC OpenAI-compatible API and an AI coding assistant to build something small but real. They make great starting points for a hackathon — pick one, then take it somewhere interesting.
Every tutorial is labeled Beginner or Intermediate. New to coding? The Beginner web apps (the Streamlit ones especially) are deliberately tiny and the gentlest place to start — build one in an afternoon, then move up to an Intermediate project.
AI-powered projects
| Tutorial | Level | What you build | Stack | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create a Basic Lab Web Portal | Beginner | A small internal homepage for lab updates, projects, and links. | Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind | 35–45 min |
| Build a Lab Onboarding Assistant CLI | Beginner | A Python CLI that answers questions from local lab notes using the LLM API. | Python, OpenAI SDK | 35–45 min |
| Create a Slurm Queue Snapshot CLI | Beginner | A Python CLI that parses squeue output into a readable summary. | Python, Slurm | 30–40 min |
| Create a CSV Dataset Explorer | Beginner | A Streamlit app that previews, filters, and summarizes CSV files. | Python, Streamlit, pandas | 25–35 min |
| Build a Streamlit AI Chatbot | Beginner | A streaming web chat UI backed by the RC LLM API. | Python, Streamlit, OpenAI SDK | 30–40 min |
| Summarize Research Papers from the Command Line | Intermediate | A CLI that turns a PDF into a structured, section-by-section summary. | Python, OpenAI SDK, pypdf | 35–45 min |
| Generate Slurm Job Scripts with AI | Intermediate | A CLI that drafts sbatch scripts from plain English, grounded in your cluster's rules. | Python, OpenAI SDK, Slurm | 35–45 min |
| Explain and Document Code with AI | Intermediate | A CLI that explains a Python file and suggests docstrings. | Python, OpenAI SDK | 30–40 min |
| Chat with Your CSV | Intermediate | A Streamlit app that answers plain-English questions about a dataset. | Python, Streamlit, pandas, OpenAI SDK | 40–50 min |
| Build a Q&A Assistant over Your Notes | Intermediate | A retrieval (RAG) CLI that answers from a folder of notes with citations. | Python, OpenAI SDK, scikit-learn | 45–55 min |
Foundational skills
| Tutorial | Level | What you build | Stack | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Track a New Project with Git | Beginner | A version-controlled project with clean commits, .gitignore, and a remote. | Git | 25–35 min |
| Collaborate on a Project with Git | Intermediate | A team workflow with branches, pull requests, and conflict resolution. | Git | 40–50 min |
How these tutorials work
Each tutorial follows the same beginner-safe pattern:
- Set up a small workspace with a known project structure.
- Write a clear first prompt that states the goal, constraints, and definition of done.
- Review generated code like a draft from a teammate before accepting it.
- Ask for one focused adjustment at a time to keep the project from sprawling.