---
title: Your first class
description: Make a course, add one activity with an AI, share its link or QR code, and see your first learner in Progress.
updated: 2026-10-30
---

> All VIABLE docs, for people and their agents: https://developers.viablelab.org/llms.txt

# Your first class

This page takes you from nothing to a working class in about ten minutes. Use it the first time you teach with VIABLE.

## Before you start

You need a project where you are an **owner** or **editor**, and a **published agent** in it: the AI your learners talk with. If you have none yet, start with [Your first agent](/docs/build/first-agent).

## Make the course

::: steps
1. **Start a course.** Open [Teach → Courses](/dashboard/courses) and press **New course**.
2. **Name it.** Type a **Name**, such as "Biology 101 · Period 2 and 3".
3. **Choose what kind.** Under **What kind of course**, pick **A class over weeks**, **A one-off session** or **A course for research**.
4. **Say who it is for.** Choose **Adults**, **Teenagers** (13 to 17) or **Children** (under 13).
5. **Create it.** Press **Create course**. It starts as a **Draft**, so its link doesn't open for learners yet.
:::

**Who it is for** decides how learners get in. Children always get personal codes on printed cards. In a class over weeks, adults and teenagers type their name. You can change all of this later in the course's **Settings**.

## Add an activity with the AI

::: steps
1. **Pick a kind.** On the **Activities** tab, choose **Writing task**.
2. **Check the AI.** **Learners talk with** is already set to your most recently changed published agent. Pick another if you like.
3. **Write the task.** Under **Content**, type **The task**, for example "Should school start later? Take a side and give two reasons."
4. **Add it.** Leave **Opens** on **Open** and press **Add activity**.
:::

A preview appears beside the form: "As a learner sees it · nothing here counts". It shows the Writing panel with your agent beside it, on **Desktop** or **Phone**.

## Choose how it looks

In the course's **Settings → Appearance**, pick a look for its home and activities, and for the study's consent step if it has one. **Clear** is the default; **Playground** suits young learners. Under **Color**, keep the look's own or choose another; text on it turns dark or light so it stays readable. Press **Preview** to see it at full size, on a computer or a phone, in light and dark.

::: figure looks

## Open and share it

::: figure course

::: steps
1. **Clear what's missing.** **Before it opens** lists anything left. If it asks you to **Choose the AI key that pays for its AI**, pick one in **Settings → The AI** and press **Save settings**.
2. **Try it.** Press **Preview** to go through the course as a new learner. Previews stay out of Progress.
3. **Open it.** Press **Open course**.
4. **Share it.** On the **Link & QR** tab, copy **The course's link**, or press **Show to the class** for a full-screen QR code that phones can scan.
:::

> [!TIP]
> In an LMS, add the course as a link that opens in a new tab. Inside a frame, some browsers forget who a learner is between visits.

## See your first learner

A learner opens the link, types their name and starts. On the **Progress** tab, they appear with a dot under the activity once they start, and a check once they're done.

That's a working class.

::: cards
- [Activities and panels](/docs/teach/activities): lessons, tests, surveys, and the panels learners work in.
- [How the AI helps](/docs/teach/ai-helps): tell the AI the goal and how far it may go.
- [Learners and sign-in](/docs/teach/sign-in): sections, your class list, code cards and shared computers.
:::