Let's learn everything a complete beginner needs to know about GitHub as efficiently as possible. This article will cover the essentials of GitHub for software and web application development, explaining why it's a fundamental tool for developers. We'll break down the most important concepts of the platform in a simple, easy-to-understand way.
One of the most amazing things about GitHub is that for most individual use cases, it's completely free. You can simply sign up and start using its core features without paying a single dime.
Paid plans typically become relevant when you transition from a solo developer to working with a small team or a larger GitHub organization. Even then, the costs are quite reasonable, often starting at a few dollars per user per month.
Once you have an account, your profile page serves as a central hub, showcasing your activity and projects.
The first core concept to understand is the repository, often shortened to "repo." This is essentially a project folder in the cloud where you store all your code and related files. When you write code in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like VS Code on your computer, that code is stored locally on your machine. GitHub allows you to push this code to the cloud, which offers numerous advantages.
At its core, a repository is the central location for your project's code.
Your profile also displays your contribution activity. The green dots on the contribution graph indicate days when you have pushed code changes to a public repository.
To create a new repository, you'll provide a name for it. This name will be part of the repository's URL, especially if it's public. You then choose its visibility:
To start pushing code from your local machine, you'll need to connect your IDE (like VS Code) to your GitHub account. This allows you to perform pushes, commits, and manage branches directly from your development environment.
One of the most powerful features of Git and GitHub is branching. Imagine your project's code history as a single timeline. By default, this primary timeline is called main. The main branch represents the official, stable version of your code at any given moment.
When you create a new branch, you are essentially creating a duplicate, parallel timeline of your code. For example, if you wanted to add a new footer to your website, you could create a branch named new-footer. This new-footer branch starts as an exact copy of the main branch.
The key benefit is that any changes you make on the new-footer branch—like modifying app.js or adding new files—do not affect the main branch. This creates a safe, isolated environment to develop new features or fix bugs. If you make a mistake and completely break the application on your feature branch, you can simply delete it without any impact on the stable main branch. The main branch remains untouched and functional.
The main branch should always represent a working, non-broken version of your software. It should only be updated when new code has been tested and is confirmed to be ready for integration.
Once you've finished your work on a feature branch (like new-footer) and are confident the code is good, the next step is to merge it back into the main branch. This process integrates your new changes into the official codebase. After a successful merge, the feature branch is typically deleted since its changes are now part of main.
The mechanism for merging is called a Pull Request (or PR). A pull request is a formal proposal to merge changes from one branch into another. It shows the differences (or "diffs") between the branches, highlighting exactly what was added, removed, or modified.
For example, in a pull request, you might see:
This visual comparison makes it easy for you and your team to review the changes before they are merged. While it's technically possible for a beginner to commit directly to the main branch, it's not a good long-term practice. Using the branch-and-PR workflow is a standard best practice in software development.
A common task is downloading a public repository to your computer so you can explore the code. This process is called "cloning" and is quite simple.
Step 1: Get the Repository URL On the GitHub page of the repository you want to clone, find the "Code" button and copy the HTTPS URL. This URL doesn't require any special access keys for public repos.
Step 2: Prepare a Local Folder Create a new, empty folder on your computer where you want to store the project. Open this folder in your IDE (like VS Code).
Step 3: Install Git If you don't have Git installed, you'll need to do that first. On a Mac with Homebrew, you can run:
brew install git
Note: You'll also need tools like Node.js for many web development projects to run commands.
Step 4: Clone the Repository
Open the terminal within your IDE and use the git clone command, followed by the URL you copied:
git clone https://github.com/exampleuser/examplerepo.git
This command will download the entire repository into your folder, allowing you to browse the files, see how the code is structured, and learn from it.
While GitHub has numerous advanced features like Projects, Insights, and complex settings, you don't need to master them right away. As a beginner, focus on the fundamental concepts that are essential for software development:
Mastering these core ideas is like learning to ride a bike before trying to ride a motorcycle. As you gain more experience, the other features will become clearer and more relevant to your workflow. This article provides the foundational knowledge to get you started and build a solid comprehension of how to use GitHub in any development context.