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This is START-HERE.md from the pack. Where it says "this folder", it means the zip on the AI Starter Pack page.

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From the Affinda team: a starter pack for anyone who uses ChatGPT or Claude for uni but hasn't built anything with AI yet.

This page is the essentials. The guides/ folder goes deeper if you want it. The pack teaches you how to use AI, not what to build. The ideas are up to you.

Set it up (5 minutes)

Chat apps (ChatGPT, Claude): create a Project for your team, upload ALL-IN-ONE.md (the whole pack in one file), and say: "Read the starter pack and start us off."

Coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cowork, or an agent in VS Code): unzip this folder, open it in your tool, and say: "Read AGENTS.md and start us off." Many tools read it automatically.

Not sure which? Start with a chat app. Guide 1 explains the difference.

The tips that matter most

  1. Assume AI can do anything, then work back from there. Beginners ask for too little. Ask for what you actually want. If it can't, you'll find out in one message.
  2. Plan with a strong model, build with a cheaper one. Get the smartest model you have to write a clear plan, save it, then switch to a cheaper model to build it step by step. Guide 4
  3. Ask for a plan before it builds anything. Fixing a plan is cheap. Undoing a build isn't. Start with the smallest version that works, and for anything visual, look at one screen before it builds the rest. Guide 2
  4. Long chats rot. The longer a chat runs, the more it forgets and contradicts itself, and the more of your usage each message costs. Keep your project in a PROJECT.md file, and hand over to a fresh chat often. Guide 3
  5. Every message re-sends the whole chat. That's why long chats burn through your limit. Short chats, the right model and one task per chat make it last. Guide 4
  6. "It works" is a claim, not proof. Click it yourself, try messy real-looking inputs, and get a fresh chat to check the work. Guide 5

Handy things to say to your AI

Say When
"Start us off" First session
"Save our progress" End of a session, or when a chat gets long
"Check our work" After you've built something
"How do I...?" Any time

The deadline

Submissions close Thursday 8 October, 5:00pm, on Devpost. Register your team and pick your track by Wednesday 5:00pm. The key event details are in HACKATHON.md, summarised from the organisers' pages, and everything official lives on the Affinda AI Innovation Challenge: Hacker Hub. If anything here disagrees with the official guide or announcements, the official version wins.

What's in the folder

File What it's for
START-HERE.md This page
guides/ Optional deep dives: 1 tools · 2 prompting · 3 context · 4 models and cost · 5 checking and sharing · 6 giving your AI tools (libraries like GSAP, skills, connectors)
HACKATHON.md The official event details
PROJECT-TEMPLATE.md Your project's memory file (your AI can set it up)
AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md Instructions for the AI (identical; you don't need to read them)
ALL-IN-ONE.md Everything in one file, for chat apps