AI coding agents such as Codex read your codebase, edit multiple files, and run commands and tests while they work through larger tasks with you. In Codex, an AGENTS.md file holds persistent instructions for a project, and config.toml holds the agent's configuration.
We just published a course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you how to get reliable results from a coding agent by giving it the right context, planning the work, controlling its permissions, and verifying every change. This course is taught by Tom Chant, Head of Education at Scrimba.
You'll work through realistic tasks, including challenges on skills, characterization tests, and config.toml. The course is aimed at experienced developers adding AI to their workflow and at non-coders who want to build software with AI help. You can also study it interactively on Scrimba.
In this course, you will learn:
- Prompting & Project Setup
How to write effective prompts and comment prompts for a coding agent, then initialize a project and use multiple AGENTS.md files. - Plan Mode & Skills
How to break larger development tasks down with Plan Mode and extend a coding agent with skills. - Testing Agent Changes
How to verify an agent's changes with characterization tests and test-driven development (TDD), and which testing pitfalls to look out for. - Git & Secrets
How to use Git safely alongside a coding agent and keep API keys, credentials, and other secrets safe. - Context, Permissions & config.toml
How to use the VS Code Codex extension, manage context, control what an agent can access and change, and configure it with config.toml. - MCP & shadcn
How to connect agents to external tools with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), including shadcn.
Watch the full course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (2-hour watch).
