Title: Lab 15 — Build Your Portfolio-Ready Capstone README and Demo
Course: AIINFRA 303: Capstone Project > Section: Week 15 — Portfolio Packaging, Demo Prep, and Technical Storytelling

🛠️ Lab 15 — Build Your Portfolio-Ready Capstone README and Demo (50 pts)

Goal: Package your capstone repo into a demo-ready, publicly shareable portfolio artifact — a README that tells the system's story (problem, architecture, results, demo) and a recorded walkthrough that proves it works, all hosted free on GitHub. Steps:

1. Draft the one-line pitch. In one sentence, state the problem your capstone solves and the measurable outcome, e.g., "Cuts document-retrieval latency 40% by replacing sequential RAG calls with a cached, batched pipeline." Put it at the very top of your README, above the fold.
2. Write the Problem section. In 2-4 sentences, describe what was broken, missing, or slow before your system existed, and for whom. Do not describe your tech stack here — save that for architecture.
3. Embed your architecture. Pull your Week 3 Mermaid C4 diagrams (system context + container diagram) into the README inside fenced mermaid code blocks — GitHub renders these natively, no image export needed. Follow the free DEV.to guide "Using GitHub and MermaidJS to Document Software Architecture Using C4 Model" for exact syntax and structure. Under the diagram, list 3-5 of your actual ADRs as short bullets (decision + one-line why).
4. Build the Results table. Pull your real SLOs from Week 2 and report actual measured numbers next to them (latency, cost per request, accuracy, uptime — whatever applies to your project). If a target was missed, say so and say why; honesty about trade-offs is part of the story, not a weakness.
5. Record your demo. Choose one:
  - Screen recording: Use OBS Studio (free, cross-platform) or QuickTime (free, Mac) to record a 60-90 second walkthrough of your system running end to end. Export as MP4 and upload to a free host (YouTube unlisted, or Loom's free tier).
  - Terminal walkthrough: Use asciinema rec (free, local) to capture a CLI-driven demo as a .cast file, then convert it to a GIF with agg or terminalizer so it plays inline in the README with no click required. See the linked asciinema guide in Resources for the exact recording-to-GIF workflow.
6. Embed the demo as a linked thumbnail. Since GitHub does not reliably inline-embed video, add a static screenshot image in the README that links out to your hosted video ([![Demo](thumbnail.png)](https://your-video-link)). If you went the asciinema/GIF route, embed the GIF directly instead — it plays inline with no click needed.
7. Write the one-line narrative connecting decisions to outcomes. Add a closing sentence such as: "Choosing a quantized model over the full-precision baseline cut inference cost 55% while staying within our 200ms p95 SLO." This is the sentence a recruiter remembers.
8. Add a Trade-offs & Next Steps section. List 3-5 honest bullets on what you'd change or extend with more time.
9. Proofread against the two-clicks rule. From your README's top, confirm a reader reaches (a) a working demo and (b) the underlying code in two clicks or fewer. Fix anything that takes more.
10. Push and submit. Commit the README and any demo assets to your capstone repo (public), then submit the repo URL plus a 2-3 sentence reflection on what surprised you about writing the narrative.

Deliverables: A public GitHub repo URL with a polished README (one-line pitch, problem, embedded C4 diagrams, results table, linked or embedded demo, trade-offs section) plus a short written reflection, submitted as an online upload or text entry.