TopolearnEvery Git workflow starts with a repository; these two commands are how you get one.
A repository is a project folder plus a hidden .git directory. That .git directory is the repository: it holds every commit, branch and setting. The files you see around it are just the currently checked-out version.
There are two ways to get one.
`git init` turns the current folder into a new, empty repository. Nothing is tracked yet; you choose what to add and commit. Use it for brand-new projects or to start versioning an existing folder.
`git clone <url>` copies an existing repository, usually from a server. It downloads the full history, checks out the default branch into a new folder and remembers the source as a remote named origin. URLs come in two common flavours:
- HTTPS,
https://github.com/user/repo.git, which authenticates with a token or credential helper. - SSH,
git@github.com:user/repo.git, which authenticates with your SSH key.
You can pass a folder name as a second argument (git clone <url> myapp).
Because the repository lives in .git, deleting that folder deletes all history and leaves plain files behind. Moving or renaming the project folder is fine; Git doesn't care where it lives.
Don't create a repository inside another one by accident (for example running git init in your home directory). Run git rev-parse --show-toplevel if you are unsure which repository you are in.
Example
# Brand-new project
mkdir notes && cd notes
git init # Initialized empty Git repository in .../notes/.git/
ls -a # . .. .git
# Copy an existing project with its full history
git clone https://github.com/git/git.git
git clone git@github.com:me/app.git my-app # SSH, into folder my-app
cd my-app
git remote -v # origin git@github.com:me/app.git (fetch/push)Remember
- The .git directory is the repository; the rest is a working copy
- git init starts empty; git clone copies full history and sets up origin
- HTTPS uses tokens, SSH uses keys
Watch out for
- Running git init in your home folder, which makes every file under it look untracked.