Git 101: A Beginner-Friendly Guide

Jaspinder kaur Walia

4 min read

·

Jan 15, 2026

--

1

Listen

Share

Press enter or click to view image in full size

Languages and Frameworks keep on changing, but Git has remained the same for the past few years and is used for version control. Whether working in a team or individually, Git is a must to use to keep track of changes.

In this guide, we will start from the basics: what Git is, why it’s used, how to install it and we will learn about various Git commands and Git Workflow.

What is Git?

Git is a distributed version control software system that is capable of managing versions of code.

It lets us to:

• Track Every changes
• Collaborate with others
• Allows going back to previous versions.

Git Installation:

Before moving further, let’s first do the installation from the official website of Git. Try to keep the default settings.

Configure Git:

After installing Git, it needs to be configured. Git records the author’s name and email for every change (commit) made in a project. Without this configuration, the author of the changes cannot be properly identified.

Commands used for configuration are:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Explanation of the Git Config Commands Step by Step:

• git- This is used to tell the system to use Git software for version control.
• config- This is used to set the settings that control how git looks and operates.
• --global- This is a flag that is used to define the scope. It is used to set the same name for all the git repositories.
• user.name- This is the specific setting key that is being set to change.
  Here, user refers to the category of settings like git has multiple settings like color, editor but in this specifically refers to the user category.
  .name- This is a specific setting inside the user category to tell Git that this particular setting needs to be updated with the author’s name.
  .email- This is the specific setting inside the user category for the author’s Email ID
• “Your Name”- This is the actual value that needs to be updated with the author’s name.
• “you@example.com”- This is the actual value that needs to be updated with the author’s email address.

Common Git Commands:

1. git init

Initialise a new Git repository in the current directory

git init

2. git status

Displays the state of the working directory and staging area.

git status

3. git add

Adds changes to the staging area

git add filename

4. git commit

Records changes to the repository

git commit -m "Message"

5. git log

Shows the commit history.

git log

6. git remote

Manages remote repository connections.

git remote add origin github_repo_link

7. git remote -v

Lists the URLs of remote repositories.

git remote -v

8. git push

Send changes to a remote repository

git push origin main

9. git pull

Fetches and merges changes from a remote repository.

git pull origin main

10. git fetch

Downloads changes from a remote repository without merging.

git fetch origin

11. git merge

Combines changes from one branch into another.

git merge branch_name

12. git branch

Lists or creates a new branch.

git branch branch_name

13. git checkout

Switches between branches.

git checkout branch_name

14. git clone

Copies a remote repository to the local machine.

git clone github_link

15. git stash

Save uncommitted changes.

git stash

16. git stash pop

Applies and removes stashed changes.

git stash pop 

17. git reset

Unstages changes or resets commits.

git reset HEAD filename

Git Workflow:

It provides a step-by-step process for moving code from the local repository to the remote repository.

Press enter or click to view image in full size

• Firstly, changes are made in the working directory where the code is written and edited.
• Next, move the selected files to the staging area. This stage allows to choose which changes should be included in the next commit.
• Then by using git commit save the changes to the local repository with a meaningful message.
• Lastly, use the git push command to upload the commits to the remote repository making the code available to other developers.

Git vs Github:

Git and GitHub are commonly used together, but they are different.

• Git is a software that needs to be installed on the system and then can be used for version control.
• GitHub is a platform used to host and manage code and can also be used to deploy applications.

Tips for Beginners:

• Always use the pull command before the push command.
• Write clear and meaningful commit messages.
• Add files before commit.
• Try to use different branches instead of using only a single main branch.

To know more about Git, can explore the official git documentation.