Set up Git

At the heart of is an open-source version control system (VCS) called Git. Git is responsible for everything -related that happens locally on your computer.

In this article

Using Git

To use Git on the command line, you will need to download, install, and configure Git on your computer. You can also install CLI to use from the command line. For more information, see About CLI.

If you want to work with Git locally, but do not want to use the command line, you can download and install the Desktop client. For more information, see About Desktop.

If you do not need to work with files locally, lets you complete many Git-related actions directly in the browser, including:

Setting up Git

  1. Download and install the latest version of Git.

    Note

    Most Chrome OS devices from 2020 onwards now have a built-in Linux environment, which includes Git. To enable it, go to the Launcher, search for Linux, and click Turn on.

    If you are using an older Chrome OS device, another method is required:

    1. Install a terminal emulator such as Termux from the Google Play Store on your Chrome OS device.
    2. From the terminal emulator that you installed, install Git. For example, in Termux, enter apt install git and then type y when prompted.

  2. Set your username in Git.

  3. Set your commit email address in Git.

Authenticating with from Git

When you connect to a repository from Git, you will need to authenticate with using either HTTPS or SSH.

Note

You can authenticate to using CLI, for either HTTP or SSH. For more information, see gh auth login.

If you clone with HTTPS, you can cache your credentials in Git using a credential helper. For more information, see About remote repositories and Caching your credentials in Git.

Connecting over SSH

If you clone with SSH, you must generate SSH keys on each computer you use to push or pull from . For more information, see About remote repositories and Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent.

Next steps

You now have Git and all set up. You may now choose to create a repository where you can put your projects. Saving your code in a repository allows you to back up your code and share it around the world.

  • Creating a repository for your project allows you to store code in . This provides a backup of your work that you can choose to share with other developers. For more information, see Quickstart for repositories.

  • Forking a repository will allow you to make changes to another repository without affecting the original. For more information, see Fork a repository.

  • Each repository on is owned by a person or an organization. You can interact with the people, repositories, and organizations by connecting and following them on . For more information, see Finding inspiration on .

  • has a great support community where you can ask for help and talk to people from around the world. Join the conversation on Community.