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11 · GitHub Essentials

🏠 Handbook Home  ·  ⬅️ Prev: Command Reference  ·  Next: Pull Requests & Review ➡️

You now know Git (the tool). GitHub is the most popular place to host Git repositories and collaborate around them. This part of the handbook covers the GitHub-specific layer that sits on top of Git.

Remember the distinction from Chapter 1: Git runs on your machine; GitHub lives in the cloud. Everything here also has close equivalents on GitLab and Bitbucket.

Anatomy of a GitHub repository

When you open a repo on GitHub, you'll see these tabs:

Tab What it's for
Code The files, README, branches, and releases
Issues Bug reports, feature requests, to-dos
Pull requests Proposed changes under review (Chapter 12)
Actions Automated workflows / CI-CD (Chapter 14)
Projects Kanban boards & planning (Chapter 13)
Wiki Long-form documentation
Security Vulnerability alerts, policies
Insights Contributor stats & graphs
Settings Configuration (admins only)

The README.md is the front page — it renders automatically. A great README is the difference between a repo people star and one they scroll past. (You're reading a pretty good one right now. 😉)

Creating & connecting a repo

On GitHub: click + → New repository, give it a name, and create it.

Connect a local project to it:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git branch -M main
git remote add origin git@github.com:you/repo.git
git push -u origin main

Or start from GitHub by cloning the empty repo and working inside it.

⚡ The GitHub CLI (gh) does this in one step: gh repo create my-project --public --source=. --push.

Public vs. Private

Public Private
Who can see it Anyone Only you + invited collaborators
Good for Open source, portfolios Client work, secrets, WIP
Free? Yes Yes (with generous limits)

You can flip between them anytime in Settings → General → Danger Zone.

Forking 🍴

A fork is your own copy of someone else's repository, under your account. It's the foundation of open-source contribution: you can't push to a stranger's repo, but you can fork it, change your fork, and propose your changes back via a Pull Request.

The fork-and-PR flow:

# 1. Click "Fork" on GitHub → you now have github.com/you/their-repo
# 2. Clone YOUR fork
git clone git@github.com:you/their-repo.git
cd their-repo
# 3. Add the ORIGINAL as 'upstream' so you can stay in sync
git remote add upstream git@github.com:original/their-repo.git
# 4. Create a branch, make changes, push to YOUR fork
git switch -c fix-typo
git commit -am "Fix typo in docs"
git push -u origin fix-typo
# 5. Open a Pull Request from your fork → the original repo

Keep your fork up to date:

git fetch upstream
git switch main
git merge upstream/main      # or: git rebase upstream/main
git push                     # update your fork

The GitHub Flow 🔄

The simple, popular branching workflow GitHub itself recommends:

1. Branch     → create a branch off main for your work
2. Commit     → make changes in small commits
3. Push       → publish your branch to GitHub
4. Pull Request → open a PR to propose merging into main
5. Review     → teammates review & discuss
6. Merge      → merge into main (main is always deployable)
7. Delete     → delete the branch

main is always kept in a working, shippable state. All work happens on short-lived branches that get reviewed before merging. More workflows in Chapter 15.

Your GitHub profile ⭐

A few touches that make your profile shine:

  • Profile README — create a repo named exactly your username (e.g. heyanzarkhan/heyanzarkhan) with a README.md; it shows on your profile page.
  • Pin your best repositories.
  • Achievements — badges like Pull Shark, Galaxy Brain, Starstruck, earned through activity.
  • Stars — bookmark repos you love; a repo's star count is its popularity signal.

✅ Key takeaways

  • GitHub hosts Git repos and adds Issues, Pull Requests, Actions, and more.
  • Connect a local repo with git remote add origin … && git push -u origin main.
  • Fork to copy someone's repo to your account; sync with an upstream remote.
  • The GitHub Flow = branch → commit → push → PR → review → merge → delete.
  • A strong README and profile make your work discoverable.

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