Your First Repository

Every Git project starts with a repository and a configured identity. Do this once and every commit will carry the right name and email.

Configure Your Identity

Git stamps every commit with a name and email. Set them globally once.

git config --global user.name "Ada Obi"
git config --global user.email "ada@example.com"
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

git config --list

Create a Repository

Run git init inside the project folder. Git creates a .git directory and begins tracking.

mkdir my-project
cd my-project
git init

Check Status

git status is the command you will run most. It tells you which files are untracked, modified or staged.

git status

Practice

1. Configure your name and email for Git.
2. Create a folder, initialise a repository and run git status.
3. Explain the difference between an untracked and a modified file.

Hands-on exercise

In a new folder:
1. Initialise Git.
2. Create a file called README.md with one line.
3. Run git status and read the output.
4. Stage the file and run git status again.

Recap

Configure your identity once, initialise a repository per project and use git status to see what Git knows.