alpha-academic-remote

Alpha Academic — Install Guide for Teammates

You've been given an API key and API URL by Tripti. This guide gets you from zero to "asking Claude about Alpha academics" in about 10 minutes.

If anything below is confusing, message Tripti — she'd rather walk you through it than have you give up.

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What this is

A Claude Code plugin that lets you ask Alpha Schools academic questions in plain English. Examples:

• "who owns Math 3-6?"
• "what's the proctoring playbook?"
• "what do I do if a student hits the 3-attempt cap?"
• "where's the Alpha Mastery Targets sheet?"

It returns: the answer, who to contact, and the relevant Drive link. Backed by 1,300+ docs from our Academics Team chat + every team decision + every DRI's current ownership.

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What you need before starting

1. A Mac or Windows computer (instructions cover both — pick the right section as you go)
2. The two things Tripti DM'd you:
   • ALPHA_API_URL — looks like https://alpha-academic-api.vercel.app
   • ALPHA_API_KEY — a long random string like t_bT5n5KiNSsx9oWcsTC7yZryu8WVfLGB35YEhfTULI
3. Claude Code installed (we'll check in Step 2)

You do NOT need:

• A GitHub account
• Any code experience
• Any "developer tools" beyond Claude Code

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Step 1 — Open Terminal

🍎 Mac

1. Press Cmd + Space (this opens Spotlight, the little search bar)
2. Type terminal and press Enter
3. A black/white window opens with text and a $ or % prompt. ✅

🪟 Windows

1. Press the Windows key (bottom-left of keyboard) or click the Start button
2. Type terminal or powershell and press Enter
3. A blue/black window opens with a > prompt. ✅
4. (If "Terminal" doesn't appear in your Start menu, install it free from the Microsoft Store: search "Windows Terminal" — only takes 30 seconds.)

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Step 2 — Check if you have Claude Code already

Copy this, paste into Terminal, press Enter:

claude --version

Two possible outcomes (same on Mac and Windows):

• ✅ It prints something like Claude Code v2.1.97 → you have it. Skip to Step 4.
• ❌ It says command not found (Mac) or not recognized as the name of a cmdlet (Windows) → keep going to Step 3.

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Step 3 — Install Claude Code (skip if Step 2 worked)

🍎 Mac

Copy and paste, press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://claude.com/install.sh | bash

Wait ~1 min. Close Terminal completely (Cmd + Q) and reopen (Step 1 again). This makes the new claude command available.

🪟 Windows

You need Node.js first. Check by running:

node --version

• ✅ Prints a version like v20.10.0 → you have it. Continue below.
• ❌ Says "not recognized" → install Node.js from https://nodejs.org (pick the LTS version, run the installer, accept defaults). Then close Terminal and reopen.

Once Node is installed, run:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Wait ~2 min. Close Terminal and reopen.

Verify (both platforms)

Run claude --version again. Should print a version number now. ✅

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Step 4 — Save your API key permanently

You need to set two environment variables that persist every time you open Terminal: ALPHA_API_URL and ALPHA_API_KEY.

🍎 Mac

Open the shell config file in a simple editor:

nano ~/.zshrc

Use arrow keys to scroll to the bottom of the file. On a new line, type these three lines (replace the placeholder values with what Tripti DM'd you):

# Alpha Academic API
export ALPHA_API_URL="https://alpha-academic-api.vercel.app"
export ALPHA_API_KEY="paste-your-real-key-here"

Save and exit:

1. Press Ctrl + O → press Enter (save)
2. Press Ctrl + X (exit)

Reload the file:

source ~/.zshrc

Verify both values are set:

echo $ALPHA_API_URL
echo $ALPHA_API_KEY

Both should print real values. ✅

🪟 Windows

Run these two commands one at a time (replacing placeholders with your real values):

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ALPHA_API_URL", "https://alpha-academic-api.vercel.app", "User")

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("ALPHA_API_KEY", "paste-your-real-key-here", "User")

This stores them in your user profile, persistent across all future Terminal sessions.

Close Terminal completely and reopen (Step 1) so it picks up the new variables.

Verify both values are set:

echo $env:ALPHA_API_URL
echo $env:ALPHA_API_KEY

Both should print real values. ✅

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Step 5 — Start Claude Code

In Terminal (Mac or Windows), type:

claude

Wait. A nice ASCII-art welcome panel appears with "Welcome back" or "Welcome". You're now inside Claude Code. ✅

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Step 6 — Install the Alpha Academic plugin

Inside Claude Code (NOT in regular Terminal), copy and paste this exactly, press Enter:

/plugin marketplace add triptikhetan-max/alpha-public

Wait for "Successfully added marketplace: alpha-public".

Then: