GitHub: Your Code, Online

Git is local; GitHub hosts Git repositories online. The online copy is called a remote. Publishing your repo gives you backup, a portfolio, and collaboration — every job application you will ever make starts with a link to your GitHub.

Connect and push

After creating an empty repo on github.com (the site shows you these exact commands):

git remote add origin https://github.com/ada/my-site.git
git push -u origin main

• origin is the conventional nickname for your remote
• push uploads commits; -u remembers the pairing so future pushes are just git push

The daily cycle with a remote

git pull            # fetch + merge anything new from the remote
...work, add, commit...
git push            # share your commits

clone is the reverse of remote-add: it downloads an existing repo with its full history — git clone <url> is how you join any project.

README, issues, pull requests

• README.md — the repo's front page: what it is, how to run it
• Issues — a to-do list of bugs and ideas
• Pull request (PR) — "please merge my branch": the review-and-discussion step every team uses. On your own repos, open PRs to yourself for practice; reading diffs is a skill worth building early.

What you learned

• A remote is your repo hosted online; origin by convention
• push uploads, pull downloads, clone starts fresh
• README, issues, and PRs are how real projects communicate

Next: putting a real site on the internet — GitHub Pages.