Your first commits

Create a repository, stage changes and save snapshots.

Git is a version control system. It stores snapshots of your project, called commits, so you can see what changed, go back in time and work with others without overwriting each other.

One-time setup

git config --global user.name "Ana Lopez"
git config --global user.email "ana@example.com"

The three areas

• Working directory: the files you edit.
• Staging area: the changes you picked for the next commit.
• Repository: the saved history of commits.

The basic loop

git init                       # start a repository in this folder
git status                     # what changed?
git add index.html             # stage one file (or "git add ." for everything)
git commit -m "Add home page"  # save a snapshot with a message
git log --oneline              # list the history

NoteWrite messages that say why or what, in the imperative: "Fix login redirect", not "stuff". Your future self reads them.

Ignoring files

List files that must never be tracked, such as node_modules/ or .env with secrets, in a .gitignore file at the root of the project.

CarefulNever commit passwords or API keys. Once pushed, assume they are public even if you delete them later: rotate the key.