KBTT
AI Engineer Agentic Track: The Complete Agent & MCP

Day 1 - Windows Setup: Install Cursor, Git, Clone the Repo and Run UV

Beginner Setup Windows 20 minutes
Rupinder Singh
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Week 1, Day 1. The Windows path through setup: four PC-specific gotchas that cause most failures (script permissions, antivirus, the 260-character path limit, Build Tools), then installing Cursor.

Week 1 · Day 1 · Lecture 5. The Windows path through setup. Mac users belong in lecture 1.6 — this one is PC only.

Before the five-step install, there are four Windows-specific gotchas listed at the top of setup/SETUP-PC.md. Read them; they account for most of the setup failures on Windows.

The four gotchas

1. Script execution permissions

Windows is strict and highly configurable about what a user may run. If you hit "you are not authorized to run scripts on this system", search that exact message — the fix is a well-documented one-liner. The PC setup guide also has a walkthrough.

2. Antivirus, VPN and firewall interference

Security software routinely blocks parts of an install and reports it as something else. If you are seeing a strange error, temporarily disable antivirus and your VPN and try again.

3. The Windows 260-character path limit

If the full path — every folder plus the filename — exceeds 260 characters, Windows can simply refuse. It is a setting you can disable. You may never hit it on this course, but when you do, the error looks bizarre and unrelated. Disable it now and remove the possibility.

4. Microsoft Build Tools

If you have never compiled anything on this machine, you may need Build Tools installed. You will definitely need them by CrewAI week (Week 3), so handle it before then. Instructions are under gotcha four in the PC setup guide.

Step 1 of 5: install Cursor

Cursor is the IDE used throughout the course. It is a fork of VS Code, so the layout will be familiar.

  1. Go to cursor.com and download the Windows build.
  2. Run the installer — accept the agreement, allow the desktop icon, install.
  3. Launch it. If you do not see the main editor window, use File → New Window.

Cursor is free. The Hobby plan costs nothing. There is a $20/month Pro plan with far more AI autocomplete, and you will be prompted to upgrade — you do not need it for this course. Signing in (a Google account works) enables some free AI features without any payment.

Heads-up: after signing in, Cursor may drop you into its agent editor. Click editor window to get back to the normal view.

Prefer something else? VS Code or any mainstream IDE is completely fine. The lectures demonstrate Cursor, but nothing depends on it.

What follows

The remaining steps of the five-step process — Git, cloning the repo, and running uv — continue in the setup guide and the next lectures. Step 4, setting up OpenAI, is lecture 1.7.

Resource links

Next

Mac users: lecture 1.6. Everyone reunites at lecture 1.7 to set up the OpenAI API key and .env file.