If you've found yourself on this page, we're assuming you're brand new to Git and GitHub. This guide will walk you through the basics and explain a little bit about how everything works along the way.

Download and Install Git

At the heart of GitHub is an open source version control system (VCS) called Git*. Created by the same team that created Linux, Git is responsible for everything GitHub related that happens locally on your computer.

*If you don't already know what Git is, take a crash course.

Download and install the latest version of Git.

Good to know: Git won't add an icon anywhere, it's not that sort of application.

Set Up Git

Now that you have Git installed, it's time to configure your settings. To do this you need to open an app called Terminal.

Need a quick lesson about Terminal?

Username

First you need to tell git your name, so that it can properly label the commits you make.

git config --global user.name "Your Name Here" # Sets the default name for git to use when you commit

Email

Git saves your email address into the commits you make. We use the email address to associate your commits with your GitHub account.

git config --global user.email "your_email@example.com" # Sets the default email for git to use when you commit

Your email address for Git should be the same one associated with your GitHub account. If it is not, see this guide for help adding additional emails to your GitHub account. If you want to keep your email address hidden, this guide may be useful to you.

Overriding settings in individual repos

Password caching

The last option we need to set will tell git that you don't want to type your username and password every time you talk to a remote server.

Good to know: You need git 1.7.10 or newer to use the credential helper

To use this option, you need to turn on the credential helper so that git will save your password in memory for some time:

git config --global credential.helper cache # Set git to use the credential memory cache

By default git will cache your password for 15 minutes. You can change this if you like.

git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600' # Set the cache to timeout after 1 hour (setting is in seconds)

Good to know: The credential helper only works when you clone an HTTPS repository URL. If you use the SSH repository URL instead, SSH keys are used for authentication. This guide offers help generating and using an SSH key pair.

Make a new repository on GitHub

Every time you make a commit with Git, it is stored in a repository (a.k.a. "repo"). To put your project up on GitHub, you'll need to have a GitHub repository for it to live in.

More about repositories

Click New Repository.

Fill out the information on this page. When you're done, click "Create Repository."

Congratulations! You have successfully created your first repository!

Create a README for your repository

While a README isn't a required part of a GitHub repository, it is a very good idea to have one. READMEs are a great place to describe your project or add some documentation such as how to install or use your project. You might want to include contact information - if your project becomes popular people will want to help you out.

More about READMEs

Step 1: Create the README file

In the prompt, type the following code:

mkdir ~/Hello-World
# Creates a directory for your project called "Hello-World" in your user directory

cd ~/Hello-World
# Changes the current working directory to your newly created directory

git init
# Sets up the necessary Git files
# Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/you/Hello-World/.git/

touch README
# Creates a file called "README" in your Hello-World directory

Open the new README file found in your Hello-World directory in a text editor and add the text "Hello World!" When you are finished, save and close the file.

Step 2: Commit your README

Now that you have your README set up, it's time to commit it. A commit is essentially a snapshot of all the files in your project at a particular point in time. In the prompt, type the following code:

More about commits

git add README # Stages your README file, adding it to the list of files to be committed git commit -m 'first commit' # Commits your files, adding the message "first commit"

Step 3: Push your commit

So far everything you've done has been in your local repository, meaning you still haven't done anything on GitHub yet. To connect your local repository to your GitHub account, you will need to set a remote for your repository and push your commits to it:

More about remotes

git remote add origin https://github.com/username/Hello-World.git # Creates a remote named "origin" pointing at your GitHub repository git push origin master # Sends your commits in the "master" branch to GitHub

Now if you look at your repository on GitHub, you will see your README has been added to it.

Fork A Repo

If you've found yourself on this page, we're assuming you're brand new to Git and GitHub. This guide will walk you through the basics and explain a little bit about how everything works along the way.

Contributing to a project

At some point you may find yourself wanting to contribute to someone else's project, or would like to use someone's project as the starting point for your own. This is known as "forking." For this tutorial, we'll be using the Spoon-Knife project.

Step 1: Fork the "Spoon-Knife" repository

To fork this project, click the "Fork" button.

Step 2: Clone your fork

You've successfully forked the Spoon-Knife repository, but so far it only exists on GitHub. To be able to work on the project, you will need to clone it to your local machine.

Run the following code:

git clone https://github.com/username/Spoon-Knife.git # Clones your fork of the repository into the current directory in terminal

Step 3: Configure remotes

When a repository is cloned, it has a default remote called origin that points to your fork on GitHub, not the original repository it was forked from. To keep track of the original repository, you need to add another remote named upstream:

More about remotes

cd Spoon-Knife # Changes the active directory in the prompt to the newly cloned "Spoon-Knife" directory git remote add upstream https://github.com/octocat/Spoon-Knife.git # Assigns the original repository to a remote called "upstream" git fetch upstream # Pulls in changes not present in your local repository, without modifying your files

More Things You Can Do

You've successfully forked a repository, but get a load of these other cool things you can do:

Push commits

Once you've made some commits to a forked repository and want to push it to your forked project, you do it the same way you would with a regular repository:

More about commits

git push origin master # Pushes commits to your remote repository stored on GitHub

Pull in upstream changes

If the original repository you forked your project from gets updated, you can add those updates to your fork by running the following code:

git fetch upstream # Fetches any new changes from the original repository git merge upstream/master # Merges any changes fetched into your working files

What is the difference between fetch and pull?

Create branches

Branching allows you to build new features or test out ideas without putting your main project at risk. In git, branch is a sort of bookmark that references the last commit made in the branch. This makes branches very small and easy to work with.

How do I use branches?

Pull requests

If you are hoping to contribute back to the original fork, you can send the original author a pull request.

Unwatch the main repository

When you fork a particularly popular repository, you may find yourself with a lot of unwanted updates about it. To unsubscribe from updates to the main repository, click the "Unwatch" button on the main repository.

Delete your fork

At some point you may decide that you want to delete your fork. To delete a fork, just follow the same steps as you would to delete a regular repository.

Be Social

If you've found yourself on this page, we're assuming you're brand new to Git and GitHub. This guide will walk you through the basics and explain a little bit about how everything works along the way.

Follow A Friend

One of the great features on GitHub is the ability to see what other people are working on and who they are connecting with. When you follow someone, you will get notifications on your dashboard about their GitHub activity.

Step 1: Pick a friend.

Why not follow one of these cool people?

mojombo

defunkt

pjhyett

schacon

tekkub

Who are these fine fellows? Why, they're founders of GitHub and their pet tanuki, of course!

Step 2: Follow that friend (in a non-creepy way)

Once you are on one of their pages, click the "follow" button.

Congratulations! You are now following a friend.

Watch A Project

At some point you may want to stay up-to-date with a specific project. We've made this easy to do.

Watch a project

Our friend the Octocat has a project called Hello World that we'd like to watch.

Once you are on the project page, you will notice there is a "watch" button at the top of the page. Click on it.

Congratulations! You are now watching the Hello World project. If the Octocat updates it, you will see what happened in your dashboard.

More Things You Can Do

You've done some of the most basic social interaction GitHub has to offer, but don't stop there! Check out these other social features:

Pull Requests

You may find yourself wanting to contribute to someone else's project, whether to add features or to fix bugs. After making changes, you can let the original author know about them by sending a pull request.

Issues

When you are collaborating on a project with someone, you sometimes come across problems that need to be fixed. To help you keep track of these problems, each GitHub repository has a section called Issues. For an example, check out the issues for the Spoon-Knife repository.

Organizations

Have you found yourself wishing you could collaborate with multiple developers on one project? You can manage everyone with Organizations! With an organization you can establish teams with special permissions, have a public organization profile, and keep track of activity within the organization.