Git & GitHub Without the Fear: A Practical Starter

Git has a reputation for being confusing, but day to day you only need a small set of ideas and commands. This guide covers exactly those, nothing more.

Git and GitHub are not the same thing

Git is a tool that runs on your computer and remembers every version of your project. GitHub is a website that stores a copy of that history online, so you can back it up, share it and work on it with other people.

The three ideas that matter

• Commit: a saved snapshot of your project, with a short message describing what changed.
• Branch: a separate line of work, so you can try something without touching the main version.
• Pull request: a proposal on GitHub to merge one branch into another, with space for review.

The everyday commands

git status                 # what changed?
git add .                  # stage every change
git commit -m "Add footer" # save a snapshot
git switch -c new-header   # create and move to a new branch
git push -u origin new-header

That is genuinely most of what you will type in a normal week.

A simple workflow

1. Create a branch for every feature or fix.
2. Commit early and often, with clear messages.
3. Push the branch and open a pull request.
4. Review, merge, and delete the branch.

When things go wrong

Made a mess you have not committed yet? git restore . throws away your local changes. Committed something by mistake? git revert creates a new commit that undoes it, without rewriting history. Both are safe, and knowing they exist takes most of the fear away.