Install and configure Git

Every commit is stamped with your identity, and a few defaults save pain later.

Install Git from your package manager (apt install git, brew install git, winget install Git.Git) or from git-scm.com, then check it with git --version.

Before your first commit, tell Git who you are. Name and email are written into every commit you make, so use the email your hosting account knows about:

git config --global user.name "Ada Lovelace"
git config --global user.email "ada@example.com"

git config works at three levels, each overriding the one before:

--system: every user on the machine.
--global: you, stored in ~/.gitconfig.
--local (the default inside a repo): one repository, stored in .git/config.

So you can keep a personal email globally and override it with a work email inside work repositories. git config --list --show-origin shows every value and which file it came from, which is the quickest way to debug a surprising setting.

A few settings worth setting on day one:

init.defaultBranch main so new repositories start on main.
core.editor to an editor you can use ("code --wait", nano, vim), because Git opens it for commit messages.
pull.rebase false (or true) so git pull knows how to combine diverged histories instead of asking every time.

On Windows, core.autocrlf true converts line endings for you; on macOS/Linux leave it unset or input.

Example

git --version                         # git version 2.51.0
git config --global user.name "Ada Lovelace"
git config --global user.email "ada@example.com"
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
git config --global pull.rebase false

git config user.email                 # read one value
git config --list --show-origin       # every setting and its file

Remember

Set user.name and user.email before your first commit
Config levels: system < global (~/.gitconfig) < local (.git/config)
git config --list --show-origin explains where a value comes from

Watch out for

Committing with a wrong email — the commits won't be linked to your hosting account and fixing them later means rewriting history.

Check yourself

You set user.email globally, then a different user.email with --local inside repo A. Which email do commits in repo A use?

Official docs: git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-First-Time-Git-Setup

Example

Remember

Watch out for

Check yourself

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