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Environment Setup

Disclaimer: This guide was generated with the help of Claude (Anthropic). While the steps below were accurate at the time of writing, your experience may differ depending on your operating system version, existing software, PATH configuration, or other environment-specific factors. If a step doesn't work as described, consult the official documentation linked in each section and search for your specific error message online — Stack Overflow, GitHub issues, and forums are great resources for troubleshooting environment-specific problems.

A step-by-step guide to setting up your development environment from scratch. If you already have these tools installed, skip ahead to Getting Started.

1. Create a GitHub Account

GitHub is where this project's code is hosted. You'll need an account to clone the repository and collaborate.

  1. Go to github.com
  2. Click Sign up
  3. Enter your email, create a password, and choose a username
  4. Complete the verification and click Create account

Tip: Use your school email — GitHub offers free perks for students at education.github.com.

2. Install Git

Git is the version-control tool that tracks changes to code.

Windows

  1. Download the installer from git-scm.com/downloads/win
  2. Run the installer — the default options are fine for most users
  3. Open a new terminal (Command Prompt or PowerShell) and verify:
git --version

Mac

Git is bundled with the Xcode Command Line Tools. Open Terminal and run:

xcode-select --install

Follow the on-screen prompts. When it finishes, verify:

git --version

Configure Git

After installing, tell Git who you are (use the email tied to your GitHub account):

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

3. Install VS Code

VS Code is a free code editor that works well for Python, Quarto, and Git.

Windows

  1. Download the installer from code.visualstudio.com
  2. Run the installer
  3. On the Select Additional Tasks page, check Add to PATH (usually checked by default)
  4. Finish the installer and launch VS Code

Mac

  1. Download the .zip from code.visualstudio.com
  2. Unzip it and drag Visual Studio Code.app into your Applications folder
  3. Launch VS Code, then open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and run Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH

Once VS Code is open, install these extensions (click the Extensions icon in the left sidebar or press Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X):

Extension What it does
Python (Microsoft) Python language support, linting, debugging
Quarto (Quarto) Syntax highlighting and preview for .qmd files
GitHub Pull Requests (GitHub) Manage PRs and issues from inside VS Code

4. Install Python

This project requires Python 3.12 or newer.

Windows

  1. Download the latest Python 3.12+ installer from python.org/downloads
  2. Run the installer
  3. Important: Check the box "Add python.exe to PATH" on the first screen
  4. Click Install Now
  5. Open a new terminal and verify:
python --version

Mac

The recommended approach is to use the official installer:

  1. Download the latest Python 3.12+ installer from python.org/downloads
  2. Run the .pkg installer and follow the prompts
  3. Open a new Terminal and verify:
python3 --version

Note: On Mac the command is python3, not python. The tools used in this project (uv) handle this automatically, so you won't need to worry about it after this step.

5. Install uv

uv is a fast Python package and project manager. This project uses it to manage dependencies and run scripts.

Windows

Open PowerShell and run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Close and reopen your terminal, then verify:

uv --version

Mac

Open Terminal and run:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Close and reopen your terminal, then verify:

uv --version

6. Install Quarto

Quarto is used to create reports that mix text, code, and visualizations.

Windows

  1. Download the installer from quarto.org/docs/get-started
  2. Run the .msi installer and follow the prompts
  3. Open a new terminal and verify:
quarto --version

Mac

  1. Download the installer from quarto.org/docs/get-started
  2. Run the .pkg installer and follow the prompts
  3. Open a new terminal and verify:
quarto --version

Next Steps

Your environment is ready. Head over to the Getting Started guide to clone the project and install its dependencies.