The Basic Workflow

Chapter 4: The Basic Workflow

Now that you understand the concepts, let's look at the basic cycle of making changes and saving them in Git.

1. Initializing a Repository: git init

To start tracking a project with Git, navigate to your project's root folder in the terminal and run:

git init

This creates the .git directory and sets up everything Git needs to track your files.

2. Checking the Status: git status

The git status command is your best friend. It tells you exactly what is happening in your repository:

  • Which files have been changed?
  • Which files are being tracked?
  • What is in the staging area?
  • What branch are you on?

Run it often!

git status

3. Staging Changes: git add

In Git, you don't just commit files; you "stage" them first. This allows you to choose exactly which changes should go into your next commit.

  • To stage a specific file: git add filename.txt
  • To stage all changes: git add .
  • To stage a whole directory: git add src/

4. Saving a Snapshot: git commit

Once your changes are in the staging area, you can commit them to the repository's history. Every commit must have a message explaining what you changed.

git commit -m "Add initial login functionality"

Writing Good Commit Messages

A good commit message should be:

  • Short and descriptive (under 50 characters).
  • Written in the imperative mood ("Add feature" instead of "Added feature").
  • Clear about the "why", not just the "what".

5. Avoiding Tracking: .gitignore

Often, there are files you don't want Git to track, such as:

  • Log files
  • Temporary build files (e.g., node_modules/, target/)
  • IDE settings (e.g., .vscode/, .idea/)
  • Secrets and API keys

You can create a file named .gitignore in your project root and list the patterns you want Git to ignore:

# Ignore node_modules
node_modules/

# Ignore log files
*.log

# Ignore OS files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

Summary of the Workflow

  1. Modify files in your working directory.
  2. Stage the changes you want to include in your next snapshot: git add <file>.
  3. Commit the staged changes: git commit -m "message".
  4. Repeat.

In the next chapter, we'll learn how to look back at the history we've created.

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