Lesson 1 · 15 min
The terminal is just another window into the same folders you see in File Explorer. You type one line, and it returns another. With six commands, you can see where you are, what’s there, create your projects folder, and move between folders without a mouse.
Start the lesson
Objective: open cmd, see which folder you’re in, and move between folders with six commands, without a mouse.
You type, it responds, and > comes back, waiting for you.
Scroll down: each step below lights up its part of the diagram.
When you open it, cmd shows a short line that ends in >, with the cursor blinking. The computer is waiting for you. Nothing happens until you type and press Enter.
Read the path like an address. Each backslash separates a folder, and the last one is where you are now. Your personal folder is C:\Users\ followed by your username.
The line without > is the computer’s response. Many commands that work don’t respond at all: the next command, such as cd or dir, confirms it worked.
The terminal and File Explorer show the same drive. Create a folder in one, and it appears in the other. The explorer . command opens the file window right in the folder you’re in.
Before any command that changes something, check the path before >. Many errors that look like AI failures are just caused by being in the wrong folder: if you don’t know where you are, the agent doesn’t either.
On Mac and Linux, the terminal is called Terminal and ends in $; the commands have different names (see the table at the end of the lesson).
Click each step. None of these deletes anything.
Press the Windows key, type cmd, and press Enter. Command Prompt, the black window, opens. You don’t need to run it as an administrator.
If the line starts with PS, you opened PowerShell, another terminal. Close it and search for cmd again. On Mac: press Cmd+Space and type Terminal.
C:\Users\voce> with the cursor blinking.
The cd command, typed with nothing else, is the map’s “you are here.” It shows the full path to the current folder.
On Mac and Linux, pwd does the same thing.
C:\Users\voce
Once you know where you are, look at what’s inside. dir lists folders and files; dir /b shows only the names, one per line.
On Mac and Linux: ls.
Desktop, Documents, Downloads…
mkdir projetos creates the folder. cd projetos enters it, and the path before > changes.
Use short names without spaces or accents, like meu-primeiro-agente. Spaces and accents can be tricky in the terminal.
C:\Users\voce\projetos>
cd .. goes up one folder. explorer . opens File Explorer in the current folder: the dot means “here.”
cls clears the screen without deleting anything. The Tab key completes folder names as you type.
Lost? Type cd and read the output.
Copy one block at a time into cmd. Replace whatever is between < > with your own text.
cd dir dir /b
cd %USERPROFILE% mkdir projetos cd projetos mkdir meu-primeiro-agente cd meu-primeiro-agente cd
explorer . cd .. dir cd meu-primeiro-agente dir
pwd ls mkdir -p ~/projetos/meu-primeiro-agente cd ~/projetos/meu-primeiro-agente pwd
C:\Users\ana> cd %USERPROFILE% C:\Users\ana> mkdir projetos C:\Users\ana> cd projetos C:\Users\ana\projetos> mkdir meu-primeiro-agente C:\Users\ana\projetos> cd meu-primeiro-agente C:\Users\ana\projetos\meu-primeiro-agente> cd C:\Users\ana\projetos\meu-primeiro-agente
mkdir and cd don’t show anything when they work. The path before > and running cd by itself confirm it.
dir and copy the exact name.cd projetos.cd by itself → pwd: where I amdir → ls: lists the foldermkdir name → mkdir -p name: creates a foldercls → clear: clears the screentype file → cat file: shows the file%USERPROFILE% → ~: home folderOn Linux, uppercase and lowercase matter: Projetos and projetos are different folders.
A pretend cmd: type the command for each mission and press Enter. Nothing runs on your computer.
Missions
projetos folder.projetos folder.meu-primeiro-agente folder.Simulation: Ana's home folder is just an example. On your computer, you'll see your username.
Do this on your computer. Move on only when the "done when" condition is true.
Create projetos\meu-primeiro-agente, go into it, and list the contents (it will be empty). Run explorer . and compare it with File Explorer.
Done when: you can get to the folder using only the terminal, without the mouse, and say which folder you're in.
In File Explorer, create any text file inside meu-primeiro-agente. Go back to cmd and run dir /b.
Done when: the file you created with the mouse appears in the terminal list. If it doesn't, you're in another folder: run cd.
Six commands, one AGENTS.md, and the first task, in less than two minutes.
The explanation appears after your answer.
Question 1 of 4
You opened cmd and want to know which folder you're in. What do you type?competency
cd by itself returns the full path of the current folder. dir shows what’s in it, but not the address.cd by itself returns the full path of the current folder. dir shows what’s in it, but not the address.Review: The six commands, one at a timeQuestion 2 of 4
You ran mkdir projetos and the terminal didn’t respond. What does that mean?
dir shows the new folder.dir shows the new folder.Review: The back-and-forth of the terminalQuestion 3 of 4
You created a file in File Explorer, but it doesn’t appear in dir. What’s the most likely cause?
cd and compare the paths.cd and compare the paths.Review: Commands in this lessonQuestion 4 of 4
On the VPS, running Linux, which command does the same job as dir?
ls lists the folder. pwd is the equivalent of running cd by itself, and cat is the equivalent of type.ls lists the folder. pwd is the equivalent of running cd by itself, and cat is the equivalent of type.Review: Commands in this lessonChoose an option. The explanation appears after your attempt.