A beginner’s guide to Git

The 7 basic commands you need to get started

logos of Git and GitHub, with the text “A beginner’s guide to Git”

Git can be overwhelming for those new to collaborative coding. In this article, I will break down how Git works, the GitHub set up process, and the seven basic commands you need to start pushing your first lines of code!

How Git works

What is GitHub? GitHub is a web-based platform that helps people work together on coding projects called “repositories.” It uses a tool called Git to keep track of changes in the code, so people can easily see what’s been updated and who made the changes.

I personally like to think of GitHub as a coding version of Google Docs. Just like Docs, GitHub lets you store your work online, share it with others, and work on it together.

• repository (aka “repo”) — folder or storage space on GitHub where all the files and history for a single project are kept
• Git — version control system used to track changes in code

The main difference between GitHub and Docs, however, is the idea of a “local” and “remote” repository. Unlike Docs, where all collaborators are editing the same document, working with Git requires individual collaborators to copy (or “clone”) the shared, online repository. This shared repository, which is hosted on the GitHub…