Sets up your Windows 11 machine for Ember development and keeps it current. This is the first skill you run, and every other Ember skill assumes it has passed.
When to Use
- Your first day, right after the steps in prerequisites.md.
- When a tool version changes in
toolchain/toolchain.json. - When something stops working and you want to know whether your machine is the cause.
What to Say
Open Claude Code or Codex in VS Code and ask:
- "Set up my workstation."
- "Check my machine."
- "Finish my workstation setup." Use this after a restart or once you have your local admin account.
What Happens
- The agent runs a check that installs nothing and shows a table: what is missing, older than pinned, pending, or already correct.
- It asks which agents you use (Claude Code, Codex, or both), whether any project needs
psql, and, if Docker Desktop is installed, whether you agree to remove it. - It runs the setup. In order:
- enables WSL 2
- installs the pinned tools, trying your own account first
- installs Node through fnm
- configures Rancher Desktop with the dockerd engine, Kubernetes off, and ports bound to your machine only
- creates
~/gitrootand clonesember-platform-skills - installs the VS Code agent extensions
- links the skills into Codex
- installs the Claude Code plugin
- When an install needs administrator rights, Windows asks for your local admin account (
t2-<username>). You can skip a prompt. The item stays pending and is retried next time. - It walks you through anything left: a restart, starting Rancher Desktop, a GitHub sign-in, or a new terminal.
- It verifies Docker with a test container and confirms ports are bound to
127.0.0.1.
What It Never Does
- Sign in to a service for you, handle tokens, or ask for your admin password. You type that into Windows prompts only.
- Remove Docker Desktop, or anything else, without your confirmation in the conversation.
- Downgrade a tool that is newer than its pin. It reports it and leaves it.
- Run from a terminal opened as your admin account. Per-user tools would land in that account's profile, so it refuses.
What It Changes
| Where | What |
|---|---|
| Installed programs | The pinned tools in toolchain/toolchain.json |
~/gitroot/ember-platform-skills | The skills repository clone |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\rancher-desktop\provisioning\loopback-ports.start | Binds container ports to your machine only |
~/.codex/skills/ | Links to each Ember skill |
~/.ember/workstation-state.json | What is still pending, retried on the next run |
Run It Without an Agent
From a normal VS Code terminal, not one opened as administrator:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "$HOME\gitroot\ember-platform-skills\skills\ember-workstation\scripts\workstation.ps1" -Check
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "$HOME\gitroot\ember-platform-skills\skills\ember-workstation\scripts\workstation.ps1"Options: -Agents claude,codex, -IncludeOptional for psql, -RemoveDockerDesktop after you accept losing its containers and images, and -NoElevation to skip every admin prompt.
Common Problems
| You see | Do this |
|---|---|
| "This terminal runs as AIM\t2-..." | Open a normal terminal as yourself and run it again |
pending: needs your local admin account | Run it again when you have the account, and approve the Windows prompt |
pending: restart Windows | Restart, then run it again. WSL 2 needs it |
pending: start Rancher Desktop | Start Rancher Desktop from the Start menu, wait for it, then run it again |
pending: clone failed | Ask your Engineering Manager, or someone above, to add your GitHub account to ATL-Trip-Planner |
| A tool is "not on PATH" | Open a new terminal |
| Windows blocks the script | Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or ask the service desk through Top Desk |