Why this matters
You said you already have a repo. This door believes you — then it asks you to prove it.
Pathway C’s standard is a change in a repository you can read. If “repo” still means a GitHub tab, or you cannot cd there and get git status from your own shell, this is the wrong door. Open Folders, not magic. Do not invent a throwaway folder so this page looks finished.
If the proof is real, you skip the vocabulary. You do not skip the TUI, permissions, plan mode, or the capstone. You skip “what is a folder.”
Teach
What counts as already a repo
A repository is a folder on your disk with a .git directory and a history you made. GitHub can host a copy. The website is not the proof.
Open a real terminal. On Windows that is Windows Terminal plus PowerShell, not cmd.exe. Then:
cd path\to\the\repo\you\already\use
git status
cd /path/to/the/repo/you/already/use
git status
That output is the ticket. It should name the branch and whether the tree is clean. It should not be a tutorial you typed from memory.
Do not use:
- This LMS (
C:\RussellTechWebsite or any learn checkout)
- Golf, Explorer, or a client tree you cannot afford to touch
- Your Desktop or Documents folder as a whole
- A brand-new
mkdir you made so this exercise would pass
If git is not installed, or git status says this is not a repository, you are on the new bench. Stop. Go to C0a.
Install only if you need it
grok --version
If that prints a version, do not reinstall.
If it is missing, use an official command only.
Windows (PowerShell):
irm https://x.ai/cli/install.ps1 | iex
Close the window. Open a new PowerShell tab so PATH updates. The binary lands in %USERPROFILE%\.grok\bin.
macOS, Linux, or Windows via Git Bash:
curl -fsSL https://x.ai/cli/install.sh | bash
No npm i -g. No friend’s .exe. No random release zip.
First turn in that repo
From the same directory that just printed git status:
grok
Sign in in the browser if asked. Then one read-only prompt: what directory is this, what does git say, do not edit, do not write. If Grok offers to “set up the project,” add a .gitignore, or tidy the tree, refuse it. Today is proof plus a running TUI. C1 is sign-in and surviving the screen. C2 is permissions.
Worked example
A shop that already keeps a price list in git.
- PowerShell.
cd $env:USERPROFILE\work\price-list. git status shows On branch main and a clean or dirty tree they recognize.
grok --version already works, so they do not run the installer.grok in that folder. Browser sign-in if this machine is new.- Prompt:
What directory is this? Summarize git status. Do not edit. Do not write.
- A read-only tool call names the path. They refuse any write.
/quit.
If step 1 had failed, they would have opened C0a instead of pushing through.
Your turn
Do the exercise c-repo-l01-e1 in a terminal and in Grok Build. A grok.com transcript does not count.
Common failure
You git init’d a new folder for this page. That is C0b, not this door. Delete the pretend repo from the artifact. Open Folders, not magic.
git status is from memory. The artifact needs the real stdout. If Git is missing, you are not on this door.
You launched Build in the wrong tree. /quit, cd to the repo you proved, start again.
You reinstalled because the lesson mentioned the installer. If grok --version already works, leave it.
What’s next
C1 is sign-in and the TUI — not another installer chapter. Launch in the same repo you just proved. Then C2 is tools and the permission prompt.
