Your First Repository: init, add and commit

The core loop

Almost everything you do in Git is one loop:

1. Edit your files as normal.
2. Check what changed: git status.
3. Stage the changes you want to save: git add.
4. Commit them with a message: git commit -m "...".
5. Read the history: git log.

This lesson builds that loop into your fingers. You will work in the practice terminal. On the left are the project's files, and on the right is the terminal. When you see a command, type it and press Enter.

Our project is a small recipe notebook. Start by looking around. Type ls to list the files, and cat recipes.md to read one.

Step 1: git init

A folder becomes a repository when you run git init inside it. Try it in the terminal above:

git init

Git replies Initialized empty Git repository. It created a hidden folder called .git (try ls -a to see it) that holds the whole history. Never edit or delete .git. Delete it, and you delete the history, and the folder is a normal folder again.

You run git init once per project. Everything else happens inside that same folder.

Step 2: git status, your best friend

git status tells you what is going on. Use it constantly, before and after every other command.

git status

Right now it says:

On branch main

No commits yet

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
    recipes.md
    shopping.txt

Untracked means Git can see the files but is not tracking them yet. Notice in the file list on the left, too: a ? badge appears beside untracked files. (A means staged, M means changed, and U means a conflict, which you meet in lesson 6.)

Step 3: git add, staging a change

git add moves changes into the staging area: the waiting room for the next commit.

git add recipes.md       # stage one file
git add .                # stage everything in this folder

Stage only recipes.md first, then run git status again. It now shows recipes.md under Changes to be committed (staged) and shopping.txt still untracked. You can see the A badge appear beside recipes.md.

Step 4: git commit, saving a snapshot

git commit -m "Add jollof rice recipe"

The -m flag gives the commit message, in quotes. Git replies with the short ID of your new commit. Run git status once more: it now says nothing added to commit and lists shopping.txt as still untracked, because you never staged it.

That is the staging area at work. You chose what went into the commit. Now add and commit the shopping list as a separate commit, with its own message:

git add shopping.txt
git commit -m "Add shopping list"

Step 5: git log, reading the history

git log
git log --oneline

git log shows each commit with its ID, author and message, newest first. git log --oneline squeezes each to one line, which is easier to scan. Try both. You should see your two commits, with HEAD -> main marking where you are now.

Editing a tracked file

Most of the time you change a file that Git already knows. Click shopping.txt in the file list and add a line, such as Garri, then Save file. (You can also use the terminal: echo "Garri" >> shopping.txt adds a line.) Now run:

git status
git diff

git status now shows shopping.txt as modified, and git diff shows exactly what changed: lines starting with - were removed and lines with + were added.

Then stage and commit it, with a message that says what you did.

A shortcut, and a warning

For files Git already tracks, git commit -am "message" stages and commits all changed tracked files in one step. It does not include new, untracked files. It is handy, but for beginners, staging explicitly with git add keeps you in control and teaches the model. Be careful with git add .: it stages everything, including files you did not mean to include. Check git status first.

Good commit messages

A commit message says what changed and why it matters. Future you, and your team, will read these.

Start with a verb (Add, Fix, Update, Remove) and keep it under about 60 characters. Lesson 3 goes deeper.

The browser way (for later)

You can also create a repository on the GitHub website: +, New repository, name it, tick Add a README file, and Create repository. You can then add and edit files in the browser and commit from there. It is the same idea with buttons instead of commands, and it is how you start a repository that lives on GitHub. In lesson 7 you will connect your own computer to a GitHub repository.

Try it

First, create your first repository. The folder has two files and no Git yet.

Now make a second commit. The repository already has one commit. Add a new item to the shopping list and save the change.