00 — Start and choose a client

Goal and starting workspace

• Author, learner branch from main; no completed customizations loaded.
• Prove baseline readiness, distinguish intentional 501, and record real client/build.
• Prerequisites: start guide. Artifact-only participation is acceptable when explicitly labeled.

Build it yourself

1. Inspect task brief, approved contract, src/api, tests, standards, and workshop/templates.
2. Run npm ci, npm run preflight, and npm run verify:baseline.
3. Run npm run test:search; inspect the real expected 501 versus 200/400 failures, not a missing-dependency error.
4. Author workshop/artifacts/setup-checklist.md listing the required observations; record git rev-parse HEAD, actual tools, client policy restrictions, and exact outcomes privately in .lab-evidence/00-start.md.
5. Run npm start, inspect health/list, then stop with Ctrl+C. No API UI is required.

Inspect the example

• Browse examples branch.
• Source checklist is an unfilled evidence aid, never a claim of successful setup.

Bring in this step

npm run lab:example -- --step 00-start --preview
npm run lab:example -- --step 00-start --stage
npm run lab:example -- --step 00-start --apply

• Destination: workshop/artifacts/setup-checklist.md; no client discovery path.

If you already changed these files

• Keep your real evidence; stage/compare checklist rather than replace it. Whole-step conflict rules.
• Missing release tag: use the local fetch verifier or obtain approved refs, never switch to examples.

Client steps

VS Code

• Open author folder, inspect workspace trust and Copilot build, and use integrated terminal for checks.
• Confirm no completed skill/prompt/role exists in native customization discovery.
• Keep this window as author after consumer gets its own window in 04.

Copilot CLI

• Start CLI in author root; inspect /skills info and copilot plugin list --json for name conflicts.
• No workshop skill should be project-loaded yet. Do not remove unrelated user/global assets.
• Preserve a shell transcript separately from Copilot's assertions.

Copilot app

• Open author as its own project/session and verify working directory/ref.
• Inspect Customize Skills/Plugins/MCP without installing anything. Record actual build and any policy limits.
• Native local plugin consumption remains a future CLI-assisted, unverified bridge—not a setup success claim.

Verify the result

• npm run verify:exercise -- --step 00-start checks imported/authored checklist presence only.
• Baseline green, named search checks intentionally red for 501, server stopped, actual ref recorded.
• Recovery: fix dependency/runtime failures before claiming readiness; otherwise label artifact-only.
• Next: 01 — Instructions.