Setup

Ten minutes. No API key needed for anything in Parts 1 through 3.

1. Lab code

git clone https://github.com/brianbaldock/graph-engineering-course
cd graph-engineering-course/labs
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install pytest mcp

2. Confirm it works

.venv/bin/python -m pytest tests/ -q

Expected:

...............                                                          [100%]
15 passed in 0.06s

3. Run the pipeline

.venv/bin/python -m graphlab.pipeline

You should see episodes ingested through the validation gate, a temporal close, and three retrieval queries with cited edges.

4. Pick a driver

You only need one.

GitHub Copilot CLI

Model-agnostic, one subscription. Best for feeling the routing idea.

copilot --version
gh auth status

Hermes Agent

Native MCP client plus durable memory. Best for ambient graph access in every conversation.

pip install mcp   # optional dependency; MCP is silently disabled without it

Optional: production track

Only needed for Lesson 10. Docker for Neo4j, uv for the Graphiti MCP server, and a provider API key if you want real LLM extraction.

Use absolute paths. MCP servers launch as subprocesses with a working directory you do not control. Relative paths in an MCP config are the most common setup failure in both drivers.

Start with Lesson 0 →