Github

Basics
What Is Github?
Github is a hosting platform for git repositories. You
can put your own Git repos on Github and access
them from anywhere and share them with people
around the world.

Beyond hosting repos, Github also provides

additional collaboration features that are not native
to Git (but are super useful). Basically, Github helps
people share and collaborate on repos.
Git Github
Git is the version control software that runs locally on Github is a service that hosts Git repositories in the cloud
your machine. You don't need to register for an account. and makes it easier to collaborate with other people.
You don't need the internet to use it. You can use Git You do need to sign up for an account to use Github. It's
without ever touching Github. an online place to share work that is done using Git.
987fac... d8194d6 171615...
 987fac... d8194d6 171615...

987fac... d8194d6 171615...

 987fac... d8194d6 171615...

987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
 987fac... d8194d6 171615...

987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
 987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...

987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
I GOT A
NEW LAPTOP!
Now I need my code
987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...

987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
Github is not your
only option...
There are tons of competing tools that provide
similar hosting and collaboration features,
including GitLab, BitBucket, and Gerrit.

With that said....

It's very popular!
Founded in 2008, Github is now the world's
largest host of source code. In early 2020,
Github reported having over 40 million users
and over 190 million repositories on the platform.
 It's Free!
Github offers its basic services for free!
While Github does offer paid Team and
Enterprise tiers, the basic Free tier allows for
unlimited public and private repos, unlimited
collaborators, and more!
 Why You
Should Use Github
(or at least know how to use it)
Collaboration
If you ever plan on working on a project with at
least one other person, Github will make your
life easier! Whether you're building a hobby
project with your friend or you're collaborating
with the entire world, Github is essential!
Open Source
Projects
Today Github is THE home of open source
projects on the Internet. Projects ranging from
React to Swift are hosted on Github.

If you plan on contributing to open source

projects, you'll need to get comfortable
working with Github.
 Exposure
Your Github profile showcases your own projects
and contributions to others' projects.
It can act as a sort of resumé that many employers
will consult in the hiring process. Additionally, you
can gain some clout on the platform for creating or
contributing to popular projects.
Stay Up To Date
Being active on Github is the best way to stay
up to date with the projects and tools you rely
on. Learn about upcoming changes and the
decisions/debate behind them.
Cloning
So far we've created our own Git repositories from
scratch, but often we want to get a local copy of an
existing repository instead.

To do this, we can clone a remote repository hosted on

Github or similar websites. All we need is a URL that we
can tell Git to clone for use.
git clone
To clone a repo, simply run git clone <url>.

Git will retrieve all the files associated with the ❯ git clone <url>
repository and will copy them to your local machine.

In addition, Git initializes a new repository on your

Make sure you are not inside
machine, giving you access to the full Git history of the of a repo when you clone!
cloned project.
987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...

THIS MACHINE
DOES NOT HAVE
THE REPO YET!
 ❯ git clone https://github.com/blah

987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...

WE NOW HAVE A LOCAL

COPY OF THE REPO!
987fac... d8194d6
987fac... d8194d6
171615... 171615...
Permissions?
Anyone can clone a repository from Github, provided the
repo is public. You do not need to be an owner or
collaborator to clone the repo locally to your machine.
You just need the URL from Github.

Pushing up your own changes to the Github repo...that's

another story entirely! You need permission to do that!
We are not limited
to Github Repos!
git clone is a standard git command.

It is NOT tied specifically to Github. We can use it to clone

repositories that are hosted anywhere! It just happens
that most of the hosted repos are on Github these days.
Let's Register!
Configuring
SSH Keys
SSH Keys
You need to be authenticated on Github to do
certain operations, like pushing up code from
your local machine. Your terminal will prompt
you every single time for your Github email and
password, unless...

You generate and configure an SSH key! Once

configured, you can connect to Github without
having to supply your username/password.
How Do I Get My
Code On Github?
Option 1:
Existing Repo
If you already have an existing repo locally that you want
to get on Github...
Create a new repo on Github
Connect your local repo (add a remote)
Push up your changes to Github
This lovely repo only
exists on the laptop:

987fac... d8194d6 171615...

Create Empty
Github Repo!

987fac... d8194d6 171615...

 Tell your local repo
987fac... d8194d6 171615...

about the Github repo

 Push from local repo to
987fac... d8194d6 171615...
the new Github repo

987fac... d8194d6 171615...

Option 2:
Start From Scratch
If you haven't begun work on your local repo, you can...
Create a brand new repo on Github
Clone it down to your machine
Do some work locally
Push up your changes to Github
No repo exists yet!
Create a new empty
repo on Github
 Clone the Github repo
to your local machine

The local repo is

automatically
"connected" to GH
Do some work and make
some commits locally

987fac... d8194d6 171615...

 987fac... d8194d6 171615...

Push that new work

up to Github! 987fac... d8194d6 171615...
Pushing
To get your own changes and Git history up on
Github, we need to PUSH them up. The typical
workflow looks something like this:
Make some changes locally
Add and commit those changes
Repeat...
Push new commits up to Github
First, We Need To
Make a Repo On Github
Remote
Before we can push anything up to Github, we need to tell
Git about our remote repository on Github. We need to
setup a "destination" to push up to.

In Git, we refer to these "destinations" as remotes. Each

remote is simply a URL where a hosted repository lives.
Viewing Remotes
To view any existing remotes for you repository, we can run
git remote or git remote -v (verbose, for more info) ❯ git remote -v
This just displays a list of remotes. If you haven't added
any remotes yet, you won't see anything!
Adding A New Remote
A remote is really two things: a URL and a label.
To add a new remote, we need to provide both to Git.

❯git remote add <name> <url>

Adding A New Remote

❯git remote add origin

https://github.com/blah/repo.git

Okay Git, anytime I use the name "origin", I'm

referring to this particular Github repo URL.
Origin?
Origin is a conventional Git remote name, but it is not at
all special. It's just a name for a URL.

When we clone a Github repo, the default remote name

setup for us is called origin. You can change it. Most
people leave it.
Adding A New Remote

❯git remote add mygithuburl

https://github.com/meh/repo.git

Okay Git, anytime I use the name "mygithuburl", I'm

referring to this particular Github repo URL.

This is not a commonly used remote name.

Checking
Our Work
Try viewing your remotes with git remote -v, and you
should now see a remote showing up! ❯ git remote -v

Remember, by setting up a remote we are just telling Git

about a remote repository URL. We have not
"communicated" with the Github repo at all yet.
Other commands
They are not commonly used, but there are commands to
rename and delete remotes if needed.

git remote rename <old> <new>

git remote remove <name>

Pushing
Now that we have a remote set up, let's push
some work up to Github! To do this, we need to
use the git push command. ❯ git push <remote> <branch>

We need to specify the remote we want to push

up to AND the specific local branch we want to
push up to that remote.
An Example
git push origin master tells git to push up the ❯ git push origin master
master branch to our origin remote.
Github Repo

nothing to see here...

My Local Repo master

newfeature
Github Repo master

❯ git push origin master

My Local Repo master
To push up my master branch to my Github repo
(assuming my remote is named origin)

newfeature
Github Repo master

To push up the newfeature

branch to Github...
newfeature
❯ git push origin newfeature
My Local Repo master

newfeature
Github Repo master

newfeature

My Local Repo master

I make some new commits locally.

My Github repo has no idea!

newfeature
Github Repo master

Push up the master branch again,

to make sure the Github repo has
the new commits

newfeature
❯ git push origin master
My Local Repo master

newfeature
Workflow Recap
Remember to follow these basic steps:
Create a new empty repo on Github
Copy the repo URL ❯ git remote -v
Add a remote to your local repo, using the URL
Push your changes up to the remote
 git add git commit

git push

Workspace Staging Local Remote

(index) Repository Repository

git fetch

git pull