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Getting Started

This walkthrough takes you from a fresh login to a working, auto-graded problem. It assumes the server is already running — if you're setting one up, do Installation first.

1. Log in

Open your AlgoStudio URL and click Log in with GitHub. No GitHub account? Create one free at github.com.

New accounts start without access

A fresh login has no role yet. An admin must add you to a group, make you a course maintainer, or grant you admin — until then you'll see a holding page. See Courses & access.

2. Create your first course

The fastest way is the AI assistant. Click the AI button in the header (visible to admins and maintainers) and ask:

Create a course called "Algorithms 101" with a fizzbuzz problem in Python — placeholder, readme, and dynamic tests.

The assistant creates the course, the problem, and its files, then tells you what it did. Creating and deleting whole courses is admin-only; maintainers can do everything inside the courses they maintain. See the assistant for everything it can do (you'll need an AI API key in Preferences first).

Prefer doing it by hand? Admins can also insert course/problem records directly — see Roadmap & limitations for what has a UI yet.

3. Shape the problem

You need edit access (admin or course maintainer). Open the problem and go to /p/<problem-id>/manage (or right-click it in the course sidebar → manage) to:

  • Edit the problem's name, function name, language, and tags
  • See and open all attached files in the sidebar
  • Add new files with the Add File button

Clicking a file opens it in the Monaco editor. Press Ctrl+S to save. Markdown files get a live preview pane. Right-click a file to rename or delete it; F2 renames the open file.

The files that make a problem tick — statement, placeholder, tests — are covered in Problems.

4. Give students access

Admins get an Admin link in the header. At /admin/:

  1. Groups — create a group (e.g. "CS101 — 2026") and bulk-paste your students' emails. Accounts are created on the spot; students match them on first login.
  2. Assign the group to your course, optionally with a due date. Everyone gets an email.

Maintainers for a course are added under Courses in the same dashboard.

5. Watch the work come in

Each problem has a roster at /p/<problem-id>/users (course sidebar → right-click the problem → users): who submitted, how often, and their latest verdict. Click a student for every attempt with per-test results. See Reviewing submissions.

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