Your GitHub Account and Finding Your Way Around

Git works perfectly on one laptop. The moment Asha wants Ravi to see her recipes, she needs a shared copy somewhere both can reach. GitHub is the most widely used home for such copies, and everything there starts with an account.

The rule

Your username is your address; every repository lives at github.com/owner/name.

Creating the account. Sign up at github.com with an email address, a password and a username. Choose the username with care: it appears in every URL you own, such as github.com/asha-dev/recipe-box, and in how people mention you. It can be changed later, but links and habits break when it does. Then:

• Verify your email. Some features stay locked until you do.
• Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) in the security settings. Your account can push code other people run; protect it with more than a password.
• Pick the plan that fits; the free plan covers everything in this course.

Reading the interface. Most pages you visit are repository pages. From top to bottom, a repository page shows:

• The owner and name, for example asha-dev / recipe-box, with buttons to Watch (get notifications), Fork (make your own copy on GitHub) and Star (bookmark and show appreciation).
• Tabs: Code (the files), Issues (reported problems and ideas), Pull requests (proposed changes), Actions (automated jobs) and, for people with the right access, Settings. Some tabs, such as Projects, Wiki or Security, appear depending on how the repository is set up.
• A branch selector, so you can view files on any branch, and a link to the commit history.
• The green Code button, which holds the clone URL.
• The file list, and beneath it the rendered README, the project's front page.

The top bar of the site carries search, a + menu for creating new repositories and other items, your notifications, and your profile menu.

The shortcut

To find anything, read the URL as a path: github.com/<owner>/<repository>/<tab>. github.com/asha-dev is Asha's profile. github.com/asha-dev/recipe-box is the project. github.com/asha-dev/recipe-box/issues is its Issues tab.

The trap is thinking of GitHub as your backup of "the code". A GitHub repository is a full Git repository like yours; the website is a window onto its history, branches and the people working on it.

Drills

Answer fast — trust the rule.

Remember

• Your username is your address; every repository lives at github.com/owner/name.
• Verify your email and turn on two-factor authentication from day one.
• Code, Issues, Pull requests and the green Code button are the parts you will use most.