Cohort 2 · Full Walkthrough

The complete onboarding guide.

Every step. Every button. Every gotcha. Built for non-technical students. If you follow this in order, you will have a working AI agent connected to Discord.

What you'll do

  1. Get a Claude Pro or Max subscription
  2. Install the agent stack (one command)
  3. Open Claude Code in your workspace
  4. Run your first prompt
  5. Create a Discord bot
  6. Connect Claude Code to Discord
  7. Pair yourself as the owner
  8. Activate /loop polling (required for Discord replies)
  9. Verify everything works

Part 1 — Claude subscription

You need an active Claude Pro or Max plan before you install anything else. The free tier cannot run Claude Code.

1Go to claude.ai

Open claude.ai in your browser. If you don't already have an account, sign up. Use an email you'll remember — you'll sign in again during Claude Code install.

2Pick a plan

Click Upgrade (usually top-right of the sidebar).

Why not the free tier? The free tier caps messages and doesn't include Claude Code. You'd hit limits within 30 minutes of any real build.

3Confirm the email on your account

Write down the email address on your Claude account. You'll need it in Part 3. If you already forgot which one — go to claude.ai → click the bottom-left avatar → Settings → Account. It's listed there.

Part 2 — Install the agent stack

One command installs everything you need: bun, Claude Code, and the Discord plugin.

If you're on Mac

Step 1: Open Terminal. Press Cmd + Space, type Terminal, press Enter.

Visual

Spotlight search showing "Terminal" as the top result. Icon: black box with a small >_ in white.

Screenshot to be added before launch.

Step 2: Paste this entire line, press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://setup.coachreemteam.com/setup.sh | bash

The script narrates itself. You'll see lines like:

━━━ ReemTeam Agent Setup ━━━ [1/4] Installing bun (runtime)... done (23s) [2/4] Installing Claude Code... done (18s) [3/4] Installing Discord plugin... done (4s) [4/4] Running verification... all green ✓ ━━━ Setup complete ━━━
If you see a password prompt: It's macOS asking for your login password. Type it (you won't see characters as you type — normal), press Enter.

If you're on Windows

Step 1: Open PowerShell as Administrator. Click Start → type PowerShell → right-click the result → Run as administrator → Yes.

Step 2: Allow scripts (first time only):

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Answer Y to the prompt.

Step 3: Run the installer:

iwr -useb https://setup.coachreemteam.com/setup.ps1 | iex
Windows Defender popup? Click More info, then Run anyway. The script pulls from official sources only.

After install — on both platforms

Fully quit your terminal and reopen it. This is the step people skip. It matters.

Why? The installer modifies environment variables. Your current terminal window still has the old version cached. Reopening picks up the new setup.

Something went wrong

Install errored halfway? Post a screenshot of the red error text in the Cohort 2 Telegram group. Don't re-run blindly — Code wants to see the error before you try again.

Part 3 — Open Claude Code in your workspace

This is where you meet your agent.

Good news: the setup script already created ~/cohort2-workspace/ for you, with a starter CLAUDE.md inside. You don't need to create the folder — just go there and launch.

1Navigate to your workspace and launch

In your fresh Terminal window, paste this one line:

cd ~/cohort2-workspace && claude

On Windows, use:

cd $env:USERPROFILE\cohort2-workspace; claude

Your browser pops open a Claude sign-in page.

Why this folder matters: Claude Code reads the CLAUDE.md in whatever folder you launch from. That file defines your agent's persona and rules. Launching from somewhere else means no persona loaded — your agent goes generic.

2Sign in

Use the email on your Claude Pro/Max account (the one you noted in Part 1, Step 3).

After sign-in, return to your terminal. It should show:

Welcome back, [Your Name]! Sonnet 4.6 · Claude Pro your.email@example.com /Users/yourname/cohort2-workspace No recent activity >

That > at the bottom is your prompt. Anything you type there talks to Claude.

claude: command not found

Means your terminal didn't pick up the install. Fix: fully quit terminal (Cmd+Q on Mac, close window on Windows), reopen, try again.

cd: no such file or directory: /Users/you/cohort2-workspace

Means the setup script didn't finish cleanly. Re-run it: curl -fsSL https://setup.coachreemteam.com/setup.sh | bash (Mac) or iwr -useb https://setup.coachreemteam.com/setup.ps1 | iex (Windows). The script is safe to re-run — it skips anything already done.

Part 4 — Your first prompt

Prove it's actually working. 30 seconds.

At the > prompt, type this exact sentence (it's English, not code):

Create a file called hello.txt with the text "My first agent is alive"

Press Enter. Claude Code will ask for permission to write a file. Type y, press Enter.

Open Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows). Navigate to your Desktop → cohort2-workspace. There's a file called hello.txt. Open it.

That's a working AI agent. It read your English, translated it into a file operation, asked permission, and did the work.

How to exit Claude Code cleanly: Type /exit and press Enter. You're back at the regular terminal prompt. To come back in, type claude.

Part 5 — Create a Discord bot

Your agent lives in Claude Code. To talk to it from anywhere, give it a Discord presence.

Before you start

You need:

  • A Discord account (free — discord.com)
  • A Discord server you own, or one you have admin access to
  • A browser (Chrome, Safari, or Edge — not mobile)
Don't have a server? Open Discord → click the + icon on the left sidebar → "Create My Own" → "For me and my friends" → give it a name. 30 seconds.

1Open the Discord Developer Portal

In your browser, go to: discord.com/developers/applications

Sign in with your Discord account if it asks.

Screenshot

The Developer Portal home page with your applications list. Top-right shows a New Application button.

Screenshot to be added before launch.

2Create a new application

Click the New Application button (top-right).

A popup asks for a name. This is your bot's name. Pick anything — you can change it later. Examples: "Scout", "MyAgent", your first name.

Check the "I agree to Discord's Developer Terms of Service" box.

Click Create.

3Get your bot token

On the left sidebar, click Bot.

Scroll down slightly. You'll see a "Token" section with a Reset Token button.

Screenshot

The Bot page showing the Token section with a "Reset Token" button highlighted in red.

Screenshot to be added before launch.

Click Reset Token. Confirm the dialog. A long string appears — this is your bot token.

Copy it NOW. Discord only shows this token once. If you close the tab without copying, you have to reset again. Paste it somewhere safe — your Notes app works.

4Turn on intents (this is the gotcha)

Stay on the Bot page. Scroll further down to Privileged Gateway Intents.

Toggle ON all three:

Critical next step: scroll to the very bottom of the page. There's a Save Changes button. Click it. Toggles don't save automatically. This is the #1 reason bots show as online but don't reply.

5Generate the invite URL

Left sidebar → OAuth2 (not "Installation" — the one below it).

Scroll down to URL Generator.

Under Scopes, check the box for bot.

A new section called Bot Permissions appears below. Check these:

Screenshot

URL Generator page with "bot" scope checked, and the four permissions highlighted.

Screenshot to be added before launch.

6Invite your bot to a server

Scroll to the very bottom. There's a Generated URL box. Click the Copy button next to it.

Open a new browser tab. Paste the URL. Press Enter.

Discord shows a page: "Add a bot to a server." The dropdown should default to a server you own or admin.

You should see "Authorized" confirmation.

7Confirm the bot is in your server

Open Discord (web or desktop). Go to the server you invited your bot to.

Click the Members icon (top-right of Discord — looks like two people).

Scroll through the list. Your bot should appear, probably showing as offline (grey dot). That's fine for now — we'll turn it on in Part 6.

Part 6 — Connect Claude Code to Discord

Wire the bot token into Claude Code so your agent starts listening.

1Go back to your terminal

If Claude Code is still running, skip to step 2. If not, in your cohort2-workspace folder, type claude and press Enter.

2Configure the bot token

At the > prompt, type (replacing YOUR_TOKEN_HERE with the long string you copied in Part 5, Step 3):

/discord:configure YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

Press Enter. Claude Code saves the token, writes a .env file, and reports:

Token saved. You'll need to run /reload-plugins to restart the Discord server with the new token. Discord Channel Status Token: Set (MTQ5NT... masked) Access: No access.json yet (defaults to pairing)

3Reload plugins

/reload-plugins

You should see:

Reloaded: 1 plugin · 5 agents · 1 plugin MCP server

4Confirm bot went online

Switch to Discord. Click your server. Open the Members list. Your bot should now show a green dot (online).

Bot still offline?

Three most common causes — check in order:

  1. Intent toggles not saved. Go back to Developer Portal → Bot → confirm all three intents are ON → scroll to bottom → click Save Changes. Then /reload-plugins again.
  2. bun not installed. Type /doctor in Claude Code. If it mentions bun, quit Claude Code (/exit), close terminal (Cmd+Q), reopen, run the setup command again.
  3. Bad token. Go back to Developer Portal → Bot → Reset Token → copy new one → /discord:configure NEW_TOKEN/reload-plugins.

Part 7 — Pair yourself as the owner

Lock the bot to your Discord user so random people can't DM it.

1DM your bot

In Discord, find your bot in the Members list. Click its name.

A popup appears with a Message button (or a chat input at the bottom). Send any message — "hey", "yo", "test".

Within a few seconds, the bot replies with a pairing code (6-8 digits or letters).

2Paste the code in Claude Code

Back in your terminal at the Claude Code prompt:

/discord:access pair YOUR_CODE_HERE

Replace YOUR_CODE_HERE with the code the bot sent you. Press Enter.

Claude Code confirms:

Paired. Access locked to your Discord user.

3Test the live connection

In Discord, DM the bot again. Type something real like:

Hey, what can you do?

The bot thinks for a few seconds and replies through Claude Code. You just talked to your agent from Discord.

Keep the agent running: Claude Code only listens while the terminal window is open. Close Terminal = bot goes offline. To keep it running 24/7 you need tmux or a cloud VPS — we cover that in Week 2.

Part 8 — Activate /loop polling (required for Discord replies)

The single most important step for Discord users. Skip this and your bot shows online but goes silent forever.

Why this step exists: Claude Code's Discord plugin receives messages, but a Claude Code session sits idle at the > prompt by default. Without /loop, incoming DMs accumulate with no handler. You see "typing..." in Discord, then nothing. Ever. This one missing command cost 60 minutes of debugging in our beta test — do not skip.

1Make sure Claude Code is running in your workspace

If you closed Claude Code after Part 7, reopen it:

cd ~/cohort2-workspace && claude

2Activate the polling loop

At the > prompt, type:

/loop

Claude Code will ask what you want to loop on. Paste this (replace [BOT NAME] with your actual bot name, e.g. "Casha"):

Check for new Discord DMs from my paired user and reply to each one as [BOT NAME], my AI assistant. Poll continuously.

Press Enter. Claude Code enters polling mode. You'll see "loop wakeup" messages appearing every ~60 seconds — that's the session actively checking for new Discord messages.

3Test the live connection

In Discord, DM your bot: "are you there?"

Within 10-30 seconds, you should see a real conversational reply in Discord. If you see "typing..." followed by an actual message, you're done.

Keep Terminal open from here on. The /loop runs only while this Claude Code session is alive. Close Terminal = loop stops = bot goes silent again. To keep it running 24/7 you need tmux or a cloud VPS — we cover that in Week 2.

I ran /loop but Discord still shows "typing..." with no reply

Three things to check in order:

  1. In Claude Code, run reemteam-check (exit first with /exit, run it from the shell, then re-launch claude). Confirm all layers green — especially Layer 3 (bun in system PATH).
  2. Confirm you're paired: /discord:access status — your Discord user ID should be listed in allowFrom.
  3. Re-run /loop — sometimes the first polling directive needs a restart.

Part 9 — Verify your setup

Prove everything works before Day 1. Takes 60 seconds.

1Run the local health check

Exit Claude Code (/exit) to get back to a shell prompt. Then run:

reemteam-check

You'll see a pass/fail report for every layer of your stack. Anything red prints the exact fix command next to it. Re-launch Claude Code (cd ~/cohort2-workspace && claude) when you're done.

2Submit the verification form

Go to setup.coachreemteam.com/mentorship/verify and fill out the short form. Describe any issues in the Blockers field — Code will reply on Telegram within 30 min to unstick you.

If everything passes, you're cleared for Day 1. See you Wednesday.

You're ready for Day 1.

Verify your setup now so we can focus on building when class starts — not debugging.

Run Verification →

Stuck? Post in the Cohort 2 Telegram — Code replies within 30 min during the day.