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What is GitHub?

GitHub is where your code lives online. It tracks every change, lets you collaborate, and connects to deployment services like Vercel. Learn the core concepts every builder needs.

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GitHub is a website that stores your code in the cloud and tracks every change you make. It is built on top of Git — a version control system that records the full history of your project.

Think of GitHub as Google Docs for code

When you write a document in Google Docs, every edit is saved. You can see the history and go back to any version. GitHub does the same for code — but with much more precision. Every saved version has a name (a commit message), a timestamp, and the exact list of what changed.

Git vs GitHub

These are different things:

  • Git — the tool that runs on your computer, tracking changes locally
  • GitHub — the website that stores your Git history in the cloud

You use Git locally through VS Code or the terminal. GitHub is the remote destination where you push your code.

Core Git concepts

| Term | Meaning | |------|---------| | Repository (repo) | A project folder tracked by Git | | Commit | A saved snapshot of your code at a point in time | | Branch | A parallel version of your project | | Push | Send local commits to GitHub | | Pull | Download commits from GitHub to your machine | | Clone | Download a repo from GitHub to your machine |

The basic workflow

Every time you build something, this is the loop:

  1. Make changes in VS Code
  2. Stage the changes (git add)
  3. Write a commit message (git commit -m "what I changed")
  4. Push to GitHub (git push)
Engineering Mindset

Write commit messages that describe why you changed something, not what. "Fix crash when user submits empty form" is useful. "Update form.tsx" is not. Future you — debugging at midnight — will thank present you.

Why GitHub matters for deployment

When you connect GitHub to Vercel, every push to the main branch automatically redeploys your website. You do not need to manually deploy — you just push code, and Vercel does the rest.

This is called continuous deployment. It is the standard way professional teams ship software.

How to Verify It Works
  • You have a GitHub account at github.com
  • You can create a new repository on GitHub
  • Running git status in the terminal shows the current state of your files
  • Running git push sends your commits to GitHub
Common Mistakes
  • Committing large files — never commit node_modules/. Add it to .gitignore
  • Pushing to the wrong branch — always check which branch you are on with git branch
  • Vague commit messages — "update" or "fix" tells nobody anything useful
  • Not pulling before pushing — always git pull before you git push when collaborating

Next Steps

What is Vercel?

Connect GitHub to automatic deployment

Push a project to GitHub

Step-by-step workflow