/start-1-1.en

description: "Lesson command"
chapter: "courses/aiagent/lesson03-core/module01-banner"
duration: "~30 min"
prerequisites: ["start-0-3"]
level: "beginner"
tags: ["banner", "image", "gemini"]
nonInteractiveMode: deferred

🎓 Lesson 1-1: Introduction to Banner Generation

📍 What You'll Do

Welcome to **Lesson 1-1: Introduction to Banner Generation**!

| Item | Details | |------|---------| | Goal | Create one X post banner using the banner-creator skill | | Duration | ~30 min | | Skills Used | banner-creator (Gemini Image Generation API) | | Prerequisites | Gemini API key configured, Python environment set up | | Course Page | Refer to [Module 1: Banner & Image Generation](https://ai-agent.camp/en/course/module-1) in parallel |

**Session flow:** 1. Understand X post banner sizes 2. Generate your first banner 3. Practice with 3 different topics

By the end of this session, your generated banner images will be saved in the outputs folder.

> **💡 Hint**: If the AI response stops midway, type "please continue" or "it stopped" to resume. This is a Cursor behavior, not a malfunction.

---

🎯 Readiness Check

Let's verify that everything is ready.

**AskQuestion configuration:**

{
  "title": "🎯 Pre-Session Check",
  "questions": [{
    "id": "readiness",
    "prompt": "Are you ready?",
    "options": [
      {"id": "ready", "label": "Ready! Let's start"},
      {"id": "check_prereq", "label": "Check prerequisites"},
      {"id": "view_html", "label": "View the course page first"},
      {"id": "different_lesson", "label": "Go to a different lesson"}
    ]
  }]
}

(ready → Go to Step 1) (check_prereq → Run prerequisite check) (view_html → Show course page path) (different_lesson → Show module list)

---

🚀 Step 1: Understand X Post Banner Sizes

Use AskUserQuestion (AskQuestion) to choose "Continue / Just review examples / Skip."

**AskQuestion configuration example:**

{
  "title": "🚀 Step 1: Understand X Post Banner Sizes",
  "questions": [{
    "id": "step_action",
    "prompt": "What would you like to do with this step?",
    "options": [
      {"id": "practice", "label": "Continue"},
      {"id": "review", "label": "Just review examples"},
      {"id": "skip", "label": "Skip"}
    ]
  }]
}

**After selection (example)**: Input:

Tell me the recommended sizes for X (Twitter) post banners and the differences in image sizes across social media platforms.

**Expected result**: The recommended size for X posts (1200x675px, 16:9) and differences from other platforms are explained.

---

🚀 Step 2: Generate Your First Banner

Use AskUserQuestion (AskQuestion) to choose "Continue / Just review examples / Skip."

**AskQuestion configuration example:**

{
  "title": "🚀 Step 2: Generate Your First Banner",
  "questions": [{
    "id": "step_action",
    "prompt": "What would you like to do with this step?",
    "options": [
      {"id": "practice", "label": "Continue"},
      {"id": "review", "label": "Just review examples"},
      {"id": "skip", "label": "Skip"}
    ]
  }]
}

**After selection (example)**: Input:

Use banner-creator to create a banner for X posts.
Topic: "Boosting Business Efficiency with AI"
Style: Modern, business-oriented
Output: docs/generated/banners/banner-1-1.png

**Expected result**: A banner image is generated in the `docs/generated/banners/` folder.

---

🚀 Step 3: Practice with Different Topics

Create banners with different topics using the following prompts:

Use AskUserQuestion (AskQuestion) to choose "Continue / Just review examples / Skip."

**AskQuestion configuration example:**

{
  "title": "🚀 Step 3: Practice with Different Topics",
  "questions": [{
    "id": "step_action",
    "prompt": "What would you like to do with this step?",
    "options": [
      {"id": "practice", "label": "Continue"},
      {"id": "review", "label": "Just review examples"},
      {"id": "skip", "label": "Skip"}
    ]
  }]
}

**After selection (example)**: Input:

Create X post banners for the following 3 topics:
1. "Weekend-Only Sale Now On"
2. "New Service Launch Campaign"
3. "We're Hiring: Engineers Wanted"

Save each with a different file name.

**Expected result**: Three different banners are generated, with designs varying by topic.

---

⚠️ Common Issues and Solutions

Use AskUserQuestion (AskQuestion) to select your issue and get guided assistance.

**AskQuestion configuration example:**

{
  "title": "Select Your Issue",
  "questions": [{
    "id": "trouble",
    "prompt": "Select the issue that applies",
    "options": [
      {"id": "trouble_1", "label": "\"Module not found\" error"},
      {"id": "trouble_2", "label": "Image is not generated"},
      {"id": "trouble_3", "label": "Not happy with the design"},
      {"id": "trouble_4", "label": "API error occurs"}
    ]
  }]
}

Issue 1: "Module not found" error

**Cause**: Required Python packages are not installed **Solution prompt**:

Install the packages required to run banner-creator.
Run `uv add pillow requests`.

Issue 2: "Image is not generated"

**Cause**: Output directory does not exist or permission issue **Solution prompt**:

Check if the docs/generated/banners/ directory exists, and create it if it doesn't.

Issue 3: "Not happy with the design"

**Cause**: Topic description is too abstract **Solution prompt**:

Regenerate with a more specific topic:
"Boosting Business Efficiency with AI" → "Automate 80% of customer inquiries with an AI chatbot"

Issue 4: "API error occurs"

**Cause**: Gemini API key is not set or rate limit reached **Solution prompt**:

Verify that the Gemini API key is correctly configured.
Check whether the environment variable GEMINI_API_KEY is set (not empty).
* For security, do not display the actual key value.

---

✅ Checkpoint

• [ ] Understood the recommended sizes for X post banners
• [ ] Successfully generated a banner using banner-creator