Why? Who? What?

2.1 Explain why this course was created

The course began as the everyday AI needs of a developmental-biology laboratory — PDF triage, spreadsheet cleaning, internal tooling — tasks that turned out to be common far outside biology.

Describe the real‑world problem that led to the course and how it expanded beyond its original lab.

Paste it into whatever chatbot you already have open: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. Nothing to install, no account needed here. Keep the answer — the tracks below are organised by exactly that kind of task, so it doubles as your reading order.

1. Read the opening paragraph that links the course to Prof Joachim Wittbrodt’s laboratory
2. Identify the generic tasks (PDF triage, spreadsheet cleaning, internal tooling) mentioned as common across fields
3. Note how each tool is evaluated against its actual capabilities rather than marketing claims

• You'll see A concise summary stating that the course originated from a developmental‑biology lab’s AI needs and now covers many disciplines.
• Takeaway Real problems in one lab can reveal universal AI challenges that shape an evolving curriculum
• Check Which everyday lab tasks turned out to be common across other fields as well?

2.2 Identify your persona

The role picker is the Who you are dropdown in the sidebar. Pick a role once and every example gallery in the course filters to work from that field.

Match yourself to one of the defined roles so the examples you see are tailored to your work

1. Open the Who you are dropdown at the top of the sidebar
2. Choose the role closest to your job — or leave it on All roles to see everything
3. Scroll to any example gallery and watch it re-filter to the role you picked

• You'll see The dropdown lists All roles plus twelve roles, and every example gallery re-filters to the one you chose
• Takeaway Examples adapt to your role without limiting access to any content
• Check What happens to the example gallery once you pick a role, and what stays available to you?

2.3 Understand the course layout

The course is organised as chapters grouped into tracks, with a worked-recipe library and a tools matrix that puts every tool it covers side by side.

See how the chapters, examples and tool comparisons are organised across the whole programme

1. Read the counters under the homepage hero — recipes, chapters, levels and roles — to see the breadth in the site's own live numbers
2. Open the Tools index from the sidebar to see every tool the course covers compared side by side
3. Scan one row: what the tool is, who it is best for, and what it costs, so you know what a comparison here actually tells you

• You'll see The tools matrix listing every tool the course covers with its purpose, its best fit and its pricing in one row each
• Takeaway The course is a map that lets you visualise all paths before choosing one
• Check What does the tools matrix let you compare before you commit to a tool?

2.4 Apply the course’s two guiding rules

Two rules shape every lesson here: run first, understand second, build third, and for every proprietary leader an open-source or self-hostable option alongside it.

Create lesson cards that follow the run‑first, free‑alternative principles

Paste it into any chatbot. That answer is the shape of this whole course: you run something before anyone explains it to you — and n8n is the free, self-hostable option that sits next to a paid one in every comparison here.

1. Read Run first, understand second, build third to identify the initial runnable action
2. Select For every proprietary leader, an open‑source or self‑host option to note the free alternative for each tool
3. Verify Free, no login, to start by confirming the first step requires no account or payment

• You'll see A lesson card showing a short goal, a copy‑paste prompt or click sequence, a screenshot of the result and a one‑line takeaway
• Takeaway You learn by doing the thing, not by reading about the thing — and you always have a free path to start
• Check Why does a lesson have you run the tool before it explains how the tool works?

2.5 Navigate lesson pages and start hands‑on sessions

A lesson page stacks its lessons in reading order and carries the pre-built n8n workflows and the examples gallery that go with them.

See how each daily lesson is laid out and launch the accompanying n8n workflow

1. Click Lessons tab to display the stacked lesson titles in reading order
2. Select a lesson title to expand its description and resources
3. Press Open in n8n on a pre‑built workflow to load it into your workspace
4. Switch to Examples tab to browse the gallery of reference automations

• You'll see A chapter page showing a list of lessons, pre‑built workflows you can open, and an examples gallery below them
• Takeaway Learning is driven by doing from the first session onward
• Check Which control loads a pre-built workflow into your own n8n workspace?