MicroChat
The AI coding helper for classrooms. Code, Arcade, class sessions and the Tutorial Builder.
- Building step-by-step tutorials with the Tutorial Builder The Tutorial Builder turns a lesson idea into a real step-by-step MakeCode tutorial that students work through inside MakeCode.
- Changing the language MicroChat works in English, Portuguese, Spanish, German and French. How to change the language.
- Connecting and flashing your micro:bit Flashing means sending your program to the micro:bit. MicroChat does it straight from the browser — here is what you need.
- Creating your account and logging in MicroChat accounts are for teachers and school staff. How to sign up, how to log in, and what students do instead.
- Credits, seats, and plans MicroChat uses two counters: credits for messages and seats for students. How each one works, and what happens when you run out.
- Describing a game Arcade can build Arcade builds a game from your description. How to describe one clearly so you get the game you pictured.
- Editing your program in MakeCode The MakeCode button opens your MicroChat program in the real MakeCode editor, so you can drag the blocks around yourself.
- Free lessons and resources at learn.forwardedu.com learn.forwardedu.com hosts free, ready-to-teach lessons, and MicroChat knows about them.
- Joining a session as a student Students do not need an account. How to join your teacher's MicroChat session with a join code.
- Keeping students safe How MicroChat protects students: no student accounts, no personal data collected, and what teachers stay in control of.
- Making games with Arcade Arcade makes small retro-style games for the micro:bit-based CodeCTRL handheld, the same way Code makes micro:bit programs.
- My Chats: finding your past work My Chats lists every program, game and tutorial you have made in MicroChat, newest first — and how to find your way back to one.
- Playing your game: CodeCTRL and the simulator Two ways to play a game you made in Arcade: on the CodeCTRL handheld, or in the on-screen simulator.
- Running a class with Code Sessions Code Sessions let a whole class use MicroChat without accounts: set it up once, share a join code, and every student gets a private chat.
- Running Arcade Sessions with your class Arcade Sessions work exactly like Code Sessions, but every student builds games instead of micro:bit programs.
- Sharing tutorials with students — and updating them Publish turns a tutorial into a link that opens directly in MakeCode — and what happens to that link when you change the tutorial.
- The Dashboard: your home base The Dashboard is where everything in MicroChat starts — the chat box, the left-hand menu, and what each part does.
- Using Forward Education kits MicroChat knows the Forward Education kits — sensors, motors, lights and pumps — and can write code for their components.
- What is MicroChat? MicroChat turns plain-language descriptions into working micro:bit code, shown as MakeCode blocks — no coding experience needed.
- When something goes wrong Quick fixes for the most common MicroChat problems — compile errors, downloads that will not start, and connection trouble.
- Writing a lesson description the Tutorial Builder understands Five details to include in a lesson description so the Tutorial Builder produces the tutorial you wanted first time.
- Your first program with Code A walkthrough of writing your first micro:bit program in MicroChat's Code mode, from prompt to blocks to download.