Your Project Menu & Capstone Selection

Your Project Menu and Capstone Selection

Time to choose what you will build! Unlike clone-along tutorials, your project will be unique to you.

The 11 Build Paths

Path A: Agent on My Website

What: Chat + task agent grounded in your site/portfolio/docs, deployable and embeddable

Good For: Freelancers, consultants, agencies wanting to enhance their site

Difficulty: Intermediate

You'll Learn: RAG, chatbots, embedding agents, tool calling

Path B: Second Brain

What: Personal knowledge ingestion + retrieval + automation workflows

Good For: Knowledge workers, researchers, lifelong learners

Difficulty: Intermediate

You'll Learn: RAG, document processing, vector search, automation

Path C: Content Engine

What: Multi-step agent: research → outline → draft → QA → publish

Good For: Content creators, marketers, bloggers

Difficulty: Advanced

You'll Learn: Multi-agent systems, web scraping, quality assurance

Path D: Micro-SaaS

What: Narrow paid tool with auth, usage limits, billing integration

Good For: Entrepreneurs wanting to monetize AI

Difficulty: Advanced

You'll Learn: Auth, payments, usage tracking, monetization

Path E: Multi-Agent Cofounder Team

What: Product + Engineering + Marketing + Ops agents coordinating on backlog

Good For: Solo founders, advanced developers, systems thinkers

Difficulty: Very Hard

You'll Learn: Agent coordination, A2A protocols, complex workflows

Path F: CMS like The Interop

What: Content management system like jessealton.com

Good For: Bloggers, writers, businesses needing content platform

Difficulty: Intermediate

You'll Learn: MDX, static generation, Git-backed content, AI writing assistance

Path G: Your First Chatbot

What: Production-ready chatbot for your business or portfolio

Good For: Beginners, small businesses, first-time AI builders

Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate

You'll Learn: Conversation design, RAG basics, deployment, embedding

Path H: AI Phone Service and CRM

What: AI-enhanced phone system with CRM (like peake.ai - built in 1 hour!)

Good For: Agencies, consultancies, service businesses

Difficulty: Advanced

You'll Learn: Twilio integration, transcription, automation, CRM workflows

Path I: Your First AI-Powered Website

What: Complete website with AI features built in from the start

Good For: Freelancers, small businesses, portfolio sites

Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate

You'll Learn: Next.js, full-stack development, AI integration, deployment

Path J: Let's Make a Game!

What: AI-powered game with dynamic storytelling, NPC interactions, or procedural generation

Good For: Creatives, game developers, interactive storytellers

Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced

You'll Learn: Game AI, procedural generation, WebLLM for offline play

Path K: Zettelkasten Pro

What: Advanced personal knowledge management with networked thinking

Good For: Researchers, writers, deep thinkers

Difficulty: Advanced

You'll Learn: Graph databases, bidirectional linking, AI-powered connections

How to Choose Your Path

For Beginners: Start with G (Chatbot) or I (Website) - simpler, practical, fast wins

For Product-Minded: Try F (CMS) or D (Micro-SaaS) - real products you can sell

For Technical Explorers: Challenge yourself with E (Multi-Agent) or K (Zettelkasten)

For Creatives: Have fun with J (Game) or C (Content Engine)

For Personal Productivity: Build B (Second Brain) or K (Zettelkasten Pro)

Can You Do Multiple Builds?

Absolutely yes! Many students complete 2-3 projects:

1. Start with something simple to learn the basics (G or I)
2. Then tackle your main interest (your dream project)
3. Finish with an advanced challenge to push your skills

Your First Step

Write a 1-paragraph problem statement:

• What problem will your AI product solve?
• Who is it for?
• Why does it matter?
• What makes it unique?

Share in the AIDevQuest community for feedback!

What You'll Get for Each Path

• Architecture guidance and best practices
• Starter code repository
• Key implementation patterns
• Common pitfalls and solutions
• Demo of reference implementation
• Community support from others building the same path

See detailed descriptions of all 11 paths in the downloadable guide above.

Next Steps

Congratulations! You have completed the orientation. You now have:

• ✅ Git installed and configured
• ✅ IDE set up (Cursor or your choice)
• ✅ Design tools ready (Figma or Penpot)
• ✅ Community account created
• ✅ LangChain basics understood
• ✅ Capstone path selected

You're ready to start building in Module 1!