Self-Service BI on a Budget
If you want to follow along with this self-service BI workshop, let’s get a few basics ready:
What you need:
- Your laptop
- Docker Desktop installed (works on Windows, Mac, and Linux)
What I strongly recommend:
- Your favorite AI coding assistant like Claude Code, ChatGPT with Codex (if you are paying for ChatGPT), Antigravity (if you are using or paying for Google’s Gemini) or VS Code with GitHub Copilot
- An OpenAI or Anthropic API key ready
No OpenAI or Anthropic API key yet? No worries. You can deploy a model on Azure Foundry and get an API key for free (details below)
And what is nice to have:
- A GitHub account (even better if your Student Developer Pack is activated)
- A domain name (which you can get for free through the GitHub Student Developer Pack)
- A free Cloudflare account, connected to your domain
Azure student credits
If you do not have an OpenAI or Anthropic API key, you can still follow along by deploying a model on Azure Foundry for free. As a student, you can get $100 in free credits for 12 months. You can sign up for the Azure for Students program to get your free credits.
You can find the sign-up steps here: Sign Up for Azure for Students
Once your Azure student account is active, you can deploy a model on Azure Foundry. You can follow the full deployment guide here: Deploying a model on Azure Foundry. For this workshop, I recommend the gpt-5.6-terra model.
Questions, issues, or setup troubles? Just send me an email at pim@camphouse.me, and I will help you out.