# Example Lab Onboarding Notes

These notes are sample content for the Lab Onboarding Assistant tutorial. Replace them with real lab, project, or class notes before using the assistant with a team.

## Getting Help

- Use Slack #rc-support for quick Research Computing questions and small blockers.
- Use office hours when a problem is easier to discuss with screen sharing.
- Use a ServiceNow RTO ticket for tracked requests, access changes, account issues, or quota questions.
- Include the exact command, error text, job ID, affected service, and screenshot when asking for help.

## Accounts and Groups

- New lab members should request the correct account type from the account portal.
- Group membership requests are reviewed by a group manager before access is granted.
- API-only users can use Non-HPC access when they only need API keys, Kubernetes, storage tools, or group administration.
- Sponsor changes should be requested when a user moves to a different PI or project.

## Running Jobs

- Use a login node for editing files, preparing scripts, and submitting jobs.
- Do not run long compute-heavy work directly on a login node.
- Use Slurm commands such as squeue and sacct to inspect job state.
- If a job fails, save the job script, job ID, standard output, standard error, and module list before asking for help.

## Storage

- Use scratch storage for temporary analysis output and intermediate files.
- Use project storage for shared lab data that multiple collaborators need.
- Move important final outputs to a durable project or archive location.
- Avoid keeping large generated files in Git repositories.

## LLM API Use

- Store API keys in environment variables or ignored local secret files.
- Do not paste API keys into chat prompts, screenshots, tickets, or committed code.
- Use the OpenAI-compatible v1 base URL with SDKs.
- Use a model ID from the portal model list.
- Rotate a key if it may have been shared or committed by accident.