Yapster: Robot Framework Agentic Coding Workshop

This repository is used for a 2-hour hands-on tutorial on AI agentic coding with a strong Robot Framework test-first workflow.

Purpose

Participants learn how to:

• understand a real fullstack codebase with an AI agent
• define acceptance criteria before implementation
• use Robot Framework tests as quality guard rails
• implement a feature end-to-end with AI guidance

Current workshop feature exercise: add a Like button to existing yaps.

Current Application State

Yapster is a small social app with:

• backend health endpoint: /health
• message APIs: GET /api/messages, POST /api/messages
• frontend UI for posting and listing yaps
• in-memory storage (no database)

The Like button is intentionally left as a workshop implementation exercise.

Workshop Flow (2 Hours)

1. Intro to agentic coding concepts
2. Clone and local setup
3. Baseline walkthrough (frontend, backend, Robot tests)
4. Test-first design for Like button
5. Guided implementation with AI agent
6. Validation and retrospective

Instructor slides are in INSTRUCTOR-RUNSHEET.md.

Quickstart

1) Setup

./setup-linux.sh
# or
./setup-macos.sh
# or
./setup-windows.ps1

2) Verify environment

./check-environment.sh

3) Run tests

./run-tests.sh

4) Start services

./manage-services.sh start
./manage-services.sh status

Windows PowerShell:

.\manage-services.ps1 start
.\manage-services.ps1 status

5) Health checks

curl http://localhost:3000/health
curl http://localhost:5173/health

Testing First (Robot Framework)

Robot Framework is the primary quality gate in this repository.

• UI tests: atests/ui/*.robot
• API tests: atests/api/*.robot
• shared run command: ./run-tests.sh

Recommended implementation loop:

1. Add/adjust Robot tests for expected behavior
2. Run tests and observe failure
3. Implement minimal code changes
4. Re-run tests until green

Repository Structure

yapster-robocon2026/
├── frontend/                  # React + TypeScript (Vite)
├── backend/                   # Express + TypeScript
├── atests/                    # Robot Framework tests
├── manage-services.sh         # Service manager (Linux/macOS)
├── manage-services.ps1        # Service manager (Windows)
├── INSTRUCTOR-RUNSHEET.md     # Marp slides for workshop
├── DEMO-GUIDE.md              # Facilitator guide (2-hour tutorial)
└── README.md

Additional Docs

• INSTRUCTOR-RUNSHEET.md: presentation deck
• DEMO-GUIDE.md: facilitator checklist and timing