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Programming Onboarding

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Rongrui Zhu edited this page Jan 14, 2026 · 31 revisions

Short link: https://tinyurl.com/xbotsetup

Please don't skip any steps during this onboarding process, it always results in pain down the road as we try to figure out which steps you did/didn't do! If you run into any problems at all don't hesitate to reach out to other people on the programming team, we're here to help!

Table of Contents

Account setup

Follow the instructions below to get accounts for the following services.

If you are using a team laptop - create your own user account on the machine. Initially login as the Xbot account, and use that to make your own account.

GitHub

We store all of our code in git on github. If you aren't familiar with the terms source control or git, read Git Introduction.

  1. If you don't already have one, sign up for an account at http://www.github.com
  2. Ask someone on the programming team (including students) to add you to the xbot project.
  3. You'll get an invite in the mail to join the group. You have to click the link in this email to join the team488 organization in github.

Slack

Slack is kind of a modern IRC chat tool and we use it as our primary communication tool. To get an invite to xbots account bug one of the Programming mentors with your email address.

https://xbot.slack.com/

Asana

Asana is our light-weight task tracking system. We use it to keep track of what's currently being worked on by who as well as what's on deck next.

  1. Ask a programmer to add you to the Asana workspace. If you tell them your gmail account you can just use that to sign in.
  2. Navigate to http://www.asana.com
Note that seattleschools.org email addresses don't seem to allow you to join our organization. If you have a gmail address, that works best. If Asana forces you to sign in with your seattleschools.org email address, you can clear your browser cookies to sign in with your personal email.

Software Install

If you're borrowing a laptop from the team it might already have some of the required software on it, ask someone to help you figure out what's missing.

A quick sanity check is look for a program called `2025 WPILib VS Code`, if it's there you're probably good for this year.

Install GitHub Desktop

  1. Go to https://desktop.github.com/ and click the "Download for Windows" button.
  2. Run the installer. It won't ask any questions. It will open GitHub Desktop when it's done.
  3. Click "Sign in to Github.com" and sign in with your account.

Installing/Updating FRC Game Tools

It is recommended to uninstall any previous FRC related files according to the instructions

For Macs, go here and read this instead: Here

Go here and follow the instructions: https://docs.wpilib.org/en/stable/docs/zero-to-robot/step-2/frc-game-tools.html

  • When installing the FRC Game Tools, you'll be prompted to login. Go ahead and create a new account. You can set Organization to team488.
  • Update in the National Instruments app when prompted.

Installing WPILib Tools

Note: It is easy to miss a step here, read the instructions carefully!

For Windows: Go here

  1. Follow the WPILib Installation Guide steps.
  2. When in GitHub to download your appropriate installers, scroll down until you reach "assets" and choose your appropriate installer. Continue following the Instructions.
  3. Download and run the WPILibInstaller, it will prompt you to select All Users or Current User, select either.
  4. There will be checkboxes signaling whether or not you have the required files. If greyed out and checked it means it is installed, otherwise the installer will install what you need.
Once you hit the "Post-Installation" step in the WPILib Installation Guide, you can stop.

Installing and Configuring IntelliJ

  1. Go here to download the IntelliJ Community installer if you're on Windows. If you're not on Windows, find the IntelliJ Community installer here.
  2. Run the installer. The default settings in the installer should work fine.
  3. Launch IntelliJ Community.
  4. Find the plugins tab and install the following plugins: FRC, CheckStyle-IDEA, VSCode Keymap (optional, but recommended).
  5. Restart IntelliJ.
  6. From the Welcome screen on the Projects tab, find the link to Configure FRC Team Number. Enter 488 in the dialog box and save the team number.
  7. From the Welcome screen, on the Customize tab, select VSCode under Keymap (optional, but recommended).

Installing Device Programming Tools

Rev Hardware Client and Phoenix Tuner X are programs used to set up motor controllers and other similar devices. Not everyone needs to use these, but they can be helpful to have if you are working on bringing up a brand new robot.

  1. Go to the REV Hardware Client 2 instructions and follow the installation instructions.
  2. Install Phoenix Tuner X from the Microsoft Store.

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