Here are some demos that developers can use to get up to speed on Aries. You don't have to be a developer to use these. If you can use docker and JSON, then that's enough to give these a try.
This demo uses agents (and an Indy ledger), but doesn't implement a controller at all. Instead it uses the OpenAPI (aka Swagger) user interface to let you be the controller to connect agents, issue a credential and then proof that credential.
Collaborating Agents OpenAPI Demo
Run this demo to see a couple of simple Python controller implementations for Alice and Faber. Like the previous demo, this shows the agents connecting, Faber issuing a credential to Alice and then requesting a proof based on the credential. Running the demo is simple, but there's a lot for a developer to learn from the code.
This live service implements a real credential issuer - verifying a user's email address when connecting to an agent and then issuing a "verified email address" credential. This service is used the IIWBook Demo.