The Dev Workbench

Environment check

You’re a developer on the DS platform. You probably have most of this already. This page is a quick preflight so you don’t hit a tooling issue in the middle of a lesson.

If everything below checks out, skip straight to Lesson 1. If something is missing, the fix is inline.

💡Already set up?

If you’ve completed the shared modules (especially Module 6: CLI Tools Setup), you’re most of the way there. Verify the Azure DevOps PAT section and run the smoke test at the bottom.

Checklist

1. Terminal + shell

You need a bash or zsh shell. If you’re on Windows, that means WSL2.

echo $SHELL

If you see /bin/bash or /bin/zsh, you’re good. If you’re on a Windows machine without WSL, open PowerShell as Administrator and run wsl --install, restart, then open the Ubuntu app.

2. Node.js (v22)

The DS platform runs on Node 22. Check your version:

node --version

Need it or need to upgrade? Install via nvm:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash

Close and reopen your terminal, then:

nvm install 22
nvm alias default 22

3. Azure DevOps PAT

Your git operations go through Azure DevOps, not GitHub. You need a Personal Access Token (PAT) configured for HTTPS auth.

git config --global credential.helper store

If you’re behind NTLM auth issues, set:

export GIT_HTTP_NO_NTLM=1

ℹAdd to your shell profile

Add export GIT_HTTP_NO_NTLM=1 to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc so it persists across sessions.

Test your access:

git ls-remote https://dev.azure.com/YOUR_ORG/YOUR_PROJECT/_git/YOUR_REPO

If that returns refs, your PAT is working.

4. Git

git --version

Should be 2.x+. If missing: sudo apt install git (Ubuntu/WSL) or xcode-select --install (Mac).

5. AI CLI tool

Install one of these:

# Claude Code (recommended)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Antigravity CLI — Google retired the consumer Gemini CLI on 2026-06-18
# (enterprise Gemini Code Assist licenses keep Gemini CLI; see Module 6 Lesson 3)
curl -fsSL https://antigravity.google/cli/install.sh | bash

# Codex CLI
npm install -g @openai/codex

Run it once to authenticate:

claude

ℹCorporate/agency network?

If you’re behind a proxy or need to configure certificates, the shared curriculum covers this: Overview & Prerequisites. That lesson includes proxy environment variables, certificate trust store setup, and device-flow authentication for restricted networks.

Smoke test

mkdir test-workbench && cd test-workbench
claude "Create a file called hello.js that prints 'Workbench ready' to the console"
node hello.js
cd .. && rm -rf test-workbench

If you see Workbench ready, your environment is set. Move on to Lesson 1 — you’re about to map the entire DS platform stack.

What you'll learn