Put the genie in the box

So you ask the AI in your browser to sort something out on your computer, and it writes you a lovely answer. Open this file. Change that line. Run this. And you go and do it, and halfway through it says something red, and now you are carrying error messages back into a chat window like a courier. You know that feeling. That is not the AI doing the job. That is you doing the job, with extra steps.

The other kind lives on your computer. It opens your files, it runs things, it fixes what it broke, and it asks you before it touches anything. I call it the genie here, because granting wishes is the job.

This page is how you get one. It is four steps and about an hour, and most of that is waiting for things to download.

Start here

1. Get a Claude Code subscription — Pro is the cheapest one that includes it. claude.com/pricing. The free plan does not have Claude Code in it, so this is the bit you pay for.
2. Get a GitHub account, if you do not have one. github.com — the button says Sign up for GitHub, and it is free. GitHub is the service that keeps every version of your work, so “try it and see” stops being frightening.
3. Copy prompt 1 into your AI in the browser, once you are logged in. That one gets the genie installed on your machine.
4. Then, when it is running on your computer, copy prompt 2 into it. That one sets it up for you.

You want a laptop or a desktop, not a phone. On Windows the first prompt sets up WSL — a real Ubuntu Linux terminal that runs inside Windows — and it walks you through it. On a Mac or Linux, the terminal is already there.

Nobody is going to make you a developer here. You read what the genie proposes and you say yes or no, which is the actual skill, and you already have it.

Prompt 1 — into the browser

A prompt is just typed English. Nothing to memorise. Copy this with the button in the corner, paste it into your AI in the browser, press enter, and answer its questions.

It asks which computer you are on first, because Windows and Mac are genuinely different from here on. And if something on your screen does not match what it described — take a screenshot and drop it into the chat. It can see pictures. That is why this one goes in the browser.

You are helping me install an AI agent on my own computer.
I am not a developer and I have never used a terminal.
This is step 1 of "Put the genie in the box" from
matewishkey.com.

Ask me this first, and wait for my answer:

  Are you on Windows, macOS or Linux?

Then take me through it one step at a time. Wait for me to
say a step worked before you start the next one.

WINDOWS
  - We set up WSL, which gives me a real Ubuntu Linux
    terminal inside Windows. Say what that is in one
    sentence before we do it.
  - Open PowerShell as Administrator, run `wsl --install`,
    restart the computer, then pick an Ubuntu username and
    password.
  - The first time I have to paste something into a
    terminal window, tell me how: Ctrl+V, or right-click
    inside the window. Do not skip this. People get stuck
    here and think their copy did not work.
  - Everything after that happens inside Ubuntu, not in
    PowerShell. Tell me which window I should be in.

MACOS
  - Install Homebrew first if I do not have it, using the
    official instructions at brew.sh.
  - Then the agent.

LINUX
  - Straight to the agent.

WHEN YOU GIVE ME SOMETHING TO COPY
  Put it on its own lines, between markers, with nothing
  else inside them:

    vvv copy these lines
    wsl --install
    ^^^ copy these lines

  One command per block. Never bury a command in the middle
  of a sentence.

RULES
  - Use the official install instructions for the agent.
    Do not recite an install command from memory — go and
    check the real documentation first.
  - I do every login myself, in my own browser. Never ask
    me for a password, a code or a token.
  - When I type a password into a terminal, nothing appears
    on the screen. No dots, no stars. Warn me before that
    happens the first time or I will think it is broken.
  - Before each command, tell me what it changes and
    whether it needs admin rights.
  - If I am stuck, remind me I can take a screenshot and
    drop it into this chat.

We are finished when the agent starts on my computer and I
am logged in. Then tell me to go back to
matewishkey.com/wishes/put-the-genie-in-the-box for the
second prompt.

Start by asking me which computer I am on.

Prompt 2 — into the agent on your computer

Straight after, in the terminal window where the genie is now running.

Out of the box it is set up for the people who wrote it, who are developers. This changes that: it gets sudo so it can install things, sets up GitHub, gives you one folder for your work, and puts a little bar at the bottom of the window showing how full its memory is. That bar matters more than it sounds. An AI can only hold so much of a conversation at once — its context — and when that fills up, the older parts get squeezed out and it starts forgetting what you told it an hour ago. Without the bar that just feels like the AI going stupid on you for no reason.

This is step 2 of "Put the genie in the box" from
matewishkey.com. You are installed and logged in on my
computer. Now set yourself up for me. I am not a developer.

Do these in order. One line on what each is for, then do
it.

1. SUDO
   Ask me for my computer password once, so you can
   install things without stopping every time. Tell me
   what you are installing before each one.

2. GITHUB
   Sign me in to GitHub from this computer using the
   official GitHub command-line tool. I do the login part
   in my browser. Set my name and email for save points.

3. A PLACE FOR MY WORK
   Make a folder called projects in my home folder. One
   folder per project inside it, side by side. Tell me the
   full path, and start there from now on.

4. MISE
   Install mise, and use it for every language and tool
   you install from now on, instead of installing things
   system-wide.

5. THE ccc COMMAND
   Give me one command, ccc, that starts you. That is the
   only shortcut I want.

6. STATUS BAR
   Set up your status bar so I can always see how full
   your context window is, which model I am talking to,
   and which folder we are in. Use your own supported way
   of doing it.

7. COLOURS, ON WINDOWS ONLY
   My Ubuntu terminal has a red background and it is
   horrible. Change the colour scheme to Tokyo Night dark:
   background #1a1b26, text #c0caf5. Take the rest of the
   palette from the official tokyonight project rather
   than from memory.

8. WRITE IT DOWN
   Write a CLAUDE.md in my projects folder with the rules
   below, so you still work this way tomorrow.

HOW YOU WORK WITH ME, FROM NOW ON
  - Be straight. Answer first, detail underneath. No
    preamble, no hedging, and do not tell me an idea is
    great when it is not.
  - Do it for me. Do not hand me a list to type. Say what
    you are about to do, then do it once I agree.
  - Show me it worked. Run the thing, look at what came
    back, and show me. "Done" on its own is not done.
  - Find the actual cause. Do not stack workarounds on top
    of each other. If you are stuck, say so.
  - Be snappy. Get on with it.
  - Stay lean. Build what I asked for, not what I might
    ask for next.
  - Be human about it. A bit of humour is fine. A
    corporate robot is not.
  - No jargon. If you have to use a word like repository,
    say what it means in the same sentence, once.
  - If you do print a command for me to run, break it with
    a \ so no line is longer than 60 characters. Long
    lines wrap in my terminal, I paste a broken one, and
    then we are both chasing an error that was never real.
  - Anything I have to copy goes on its own line, with a
    blank line above and below it.
  - Nothing shows on screen while I type a password. Warn
    me the first time.
  - Never ask me for a website password, a code or a
    token. I do those in my browser.

Start with 1.

What ends up in the file

Point 8 leaves a CLAUDE.md sitting in your projects folder. It is the genie’s standing instructions, in plain English, and you can open it and change it whenever something annoys you. Roughly this:

# How we work

I am not a developer. My projects live in ~/projects,
one folder each.

- Be straight. Answer first, detail under it. Don't tell
  me something is great when it isn't.
- Do things for me. Don't give me instructions to type —
  say what you're going to do, then do it once I agree.
- Show me it worked. "Done" without proof isn't done.
- Find the real cause. Don't stack workarounds.
- Be snappy, and build what I asked for, nothing extra.
- No jargon. If you use a word like repository, say what
  it means in the same sentence.
- Break long command lines with a \ at 60 characters.
- Anything I have to copy goes on its own line.
- Use mise to install languages and tools.

Want it different later? Say so, in ordinary words: the lines you print are too wide, keep them under 55 from now on and update CLAUDE.md so it sticks. That is the whole mechanism. It is your machine and your genie.

The bits that go wrong

• The password that shows nothing. First time you type your computer password into a terminal, the screen does not move. No dots, no stars. It looks broken, so people type it again, and again, and lock themselves out. It is working. Type it and press enter.
• “Admin access” means your whole machine, not one folder. Normal for installing software, and also exactly the moment to ask the genie what the command does. It will tell you. That question is never annoying.
• It can delete things. Same as you can. This is not a toy that is protected from itself, which is why step 2 puts your work under GitHub before you start playing.
• It can be wrong and sound completely certain — that is a hallucination, if you want the word for it. Read what it proposes before you say yes.
• The meter is running. A long conversation with big files in it costs more than a short one. Find your usage page on day one, not after a surprise.
• Not using Claude? Any agent that runs in a terminal and can read files works the same way — Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, others. Change the name in the prompts. The Tokyo Night and status bar bits, ask it for its own equivalent.

Mate Wish Key is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, GitHub or anyone else named on this page. They are named because that is what the things are called.

Why “in the box”

A genie in the cloud that can only talk is a chatbot. A genie on your machine, that can open your files, is a different animal — more useful, and more able to break something. In the box means both halves: getting it in there, and knowing where the sides are.