Introduction to GitHub

Get started using GitHub in less than an hour.

Welcome

People use GitHub to build some of the most advanced technologies in the world. Whether you’re visualizing data or building a new game, there’s a whole community and set of tools on GitHub that can help you do it even better. The GitHub Skills “Introduction to GitHub” exercise guides you through everything you need to start contributing in less than an hour.

• Who is this for: New developers, new GitHub users, and students.
• What you'll learn: We'll introduce repositories, branches, commits, and pull requests.
• What you'll build: You will create a short Markdown file that you can use as your profile README.
• Prerequisites: None. This exercise is a great introduction for your first day on GitHub.
• How long: This exercise takes less than one hour to complete.

In this exercise, you will:

1. Create a branch
2. Commit a file
3. Open a pull request
4. Merge your pull request

How to start this exercise

1. Click the Copy Exercise button. This will open the exercise setup page in a new tab.

   

2. In the new tab, most of the fields will automatically fill in for you.

   • For owner, choose your personal account or an organization to host the repository.
   • We recommend creating a public repository, as private repositories will use Actions minutes.
   • Scroll down and click the Create repository button at the bottom of the form.

3. After your new repository is created, wait about 20 seconds for the exercise to be prepared and the buttons to update. You will continue working from your copy of the exercise.

   • The Copy Exercise button will become inactive (grayed out).
   • The Start Exercise button will become active (green).
   • You will likely need to refresh the page.

4. Click Start Exercise. Follow the step-by-step instructions and feedback will be provided as you progress.

   

Important

The Start Exercise button will activate after copying the repository. You will probably need to refresh the page.

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Bonus: Enhance Your Profile README

Once you've created your profile README, you can add more to it! A popular addition is a "GitHub Stats Card," which dynamically shows some of your statistics from GitHub.

What is it? It's an image that displays your total stars, commits, pull requests, issues, and contributions in a nice visual format.

Why is it useful?

• It gives a quick visual summary of your activity on GitHub.
• It can be a fun way to showcase your progress as you learn and contribute more.
• It's a common badge seen on many developer profiles.

How to add it:

1. Open your profile README file (the README.md in the repository named after your username).

2. Click the pencil icon to edit the file.

3. Copy the following Markdown snippet and paste it into your profile README. Make sure to replace YOUR_USERNAME with your actual GitHub username.

   [![My GitHub Stats](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=YOUR_USERNAME&show_icons=true&theme=radical)](https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats)

4. Commit the changes.

That's it! You should see the stats card appear on your profile.

Example (using "octocat" as the username):

There are many ways to customize these stats cards (different themes, hiding specific stats, etc.). If you're interested, you can learn more at the GitHub Readme Stats project page. For now, the basic version is a great start!

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