frontier-consultancy-public

Tier 0 — Fresh account in 10 minutes

No GitHub account? No Copilot seat? No problem. You can run the entire core exercise on a 30-day free trial, no company access needed. Here is every step.

What you need on your laptop

A modern browser
Permission to install software (admin rights, or an IT-flexible laptop)
About 10 minutes, done at home before the workshop

Step 1 — Create a GitHub account (2 min)

Go to github.com/signup.
Use a personal email address. A work email is fine too, but if your employer has restrictive GitHub policies, a personal email avoids friction.
Pick a username. Something you would put on a business card. You will keep it.
Solve the puzzle. Verify your email.
On the “Welcome” screen, pick the Free plan. Skip the personalisation survey if you want.

[SCREENSHOT #1 — see capture-guide.md] — GitHub signup complete page.

You now have a GitHub account. Do not close the browser tab.

Step 2 — Start GitHub Copilot Pro free trial (2 min)

GitHub Copilot Pro includes Copilot CLI, Copilot in VS Code, and enough usage to run this exercise ten times over. The trial is 30 days. No credit card tricks — you will get a reminder before it converts, and you can cancel any time.

Go to github.com/features/copilot.
Click Start a free trial.
Pick the Pro plan (not Pro+, not Business). Click Get Copilot Pro.
Enter payment details. Yes, you have to. No, you will not be charged during the trial. Set a calendar reminder for day 28 if you do not plan to keep it.
Confirm.

[SCREENSHOT #2 — see capture-guide.md] — Copilot trial active confirmation page.

You now have Copilot. You are ready for Tier 1.

Step 3 — Continue to Tier 1

Pick your tool:

Tier 1 — Copilot CLI (recommended) — terminal-first, the meta-exercise lives here.
Tier 1 — VS Code — GUI path, same exercise.

Worried about the trial?

Cost: free for 30 days. GitHub emails you before converting.
Cancel: github.com/settings/billing → cancel Copilot. One click.
Data: Copilot Pro with the default settings does not train on your prompts. Docs here.

If your company has a policy against personal Copilot use on work devices, run this on a personal laptop. That is the whole point of Tier 0.