Starting your own projects

Once you're ready to go beyond the tutor.

First: don't touch the tutor's files

Your tutor lives at ~/Documents/my-gemini-project. Don't move it, and don't edit the GEMINI.md file inside it: that file is what makes the tutor your tutor. If you change it, the tutor breaks.

The pattern for new projects

Gemini itself works in any folder. When you want to start something new — a game, a website, a tool, anything — the pattern is:

  1. Ask Gemini to make a new project folder for whatever you want to build. Inside the tutor, just say so and your tutor will guide you. Outside, in any Gemini conversation, ask it directly. For example: "Please make a new project folder in ~/Documents called my-game and start a git repo inside it."
  2. Navigate into that folder before working on the project. Either cd into it (see below) or, if you've made an alias for it, use that. (See "Making a one-word launcher" below for the full step-by-step on setting one up.)

Two terminal commands worth knowing

cd ~/Documents/my-game: "change directory." Takes you into the folder you name. cd .. takes you back up one level.

ls: "list." Shows everything in your current folder. Useful for "what was that project called again?"

Using Gemini outside the tutor

Once you're in a project folder, type gemini and press Enter. That Gemini won't be your tutor; it's a generic, helpful Gemini, ready to build whatever you ask it to. Continue learning won't mean anything to it; just ask it for what you actually want, plainly.

Making a one-word launcher for a new project

You already have one (tutor) for the learning project. The same pattern works for any new project. Five steps.

  1. Decide what word you want to type. Short and easy to remember. For a game project, maybe game or play. For a recipe site, maybe recipe. Whatever fits.
  2. Decide which approval mode you want. Three options: auto_edit (file edits silent, scary stuff prompts; what your tutor uses), yolo (everything silent; faster, more trust required), default (everything prompts; slower, safer). See Phase 2 → Approval modes for more on the trade-offs.
  3. Ask the AI to add the alias. Open Gemini (in the project folder, or any folder; it doesn't matter for this), and type a prompt like this. Adapt the word and the mode to what you decided:
    Example prompt "Please add a bash alias to my home folder and call it `game`, so I can just fire up the terminal and type `game` and gemini will open inside that folder. I want it in yolo mode."
    The AI handles the technical bits (writing the line to ~/.bashrc with the right flag).
  4. Close and reopen Git Bash. This makes the new alias active; your shell only notices new aliases when it starts up.
  5. Test it. In the fresh Git Bash window, type your word and press Enter. You should land in the project folder with Gemini running in your chosen mode.

If something goes wrong (your word does nothing, or it says "command not found"), close and reopen Git Bash again. If it still doesn't work, ask the AI to check your ~/.bashrc and confirm the alias line is there.

Talking to a fresh Gemini

The Gemini in a new project folder has no shared history with the one that's been your tutor. So you have to tell it everything, like a stranger. The rule from step 3 of the curriculum applies: be specific, give context, leave no guesswork.

The launcher alias guide above is one example of that. The same shape works for anything else you'll ask a fresh AI: describe the outcome you want, not the mechanism. The AI figures out the mechanism.