🐙 How to Use GitHub Like a Pro in 5 Minutes

GitHub is where developers collaborate, share code, and contribute to projects. If you’re new, it can feel overwhelming, but don’t worry. In this 5-minute crash course, you’ll learn the essentials:

Setting up Git
Cloning a repo
Making changes & commits
Pushing to GitHub
Creating branches & pull requests

Let’s go! ⏱️

📌 Step 1: Install & Configure Git

Make sure you have Git installed:

git --version

If not, install it:

Download GIT

Set up your name & email (so commits are linked to your GitHub profile):

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

📂 Step 2: Clone a Repository

Find a repo on GitHub (e.g., your project or an open-source one). Copy the HTTPS link and run:

git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git
cd repo

This creates a local copy of the project.

📝 Step 3: Make Changes & Commit

Edit files with your favorite editor (like VS Code). Then run:

git add .
git commit -m "Added my first feature"

✅ git add . → stages all changes ✅ git commit -m → saves a snapshot with a message

🚀 Step 4: Push to GitHub

To upload your changes back:

git push origin main

(Replace main with your branch name if different.)

Now check your repo on GitHub, your changes are live 🎉.

🌿 Step 5: Working with Branches

Never commit directly to main when working on big projects. Create a branch:

git checkout -b feature-new-ui

Do your edits, commit, then push:

git push origin feature-new-ui

Now open GitHub → you’ll see an option to create a Pull Request (PR). This is how you suggest changes in open-source projects.

✅ Wrap-Up

In just 5 minutes, you learned how to:

Clone a repo

Commit changes

Push to GitHub

Use branches & pull requests

That’s all you need to start contributing like a pro 👨‍💻. From here, you can dive deeper into rebasing, resolving merge conflicts, and GitHub Actions.