git init & git status

Start tracking a project

Lesson 1 of 20 · 7 min · Module 1: Your first repository

Git remembers every version of your project: what changed, who changed it, and why. Before it can, you turn a folder into a repository.

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By the end, you’ll be able to…

Explain what a repository is
Create one with git init
Read what git status reports

The idea

git init creates a hidden .git folder: the repository, where Git keeps the history. Your files stay where they are; Git only watches them. git status tells you what Git sees right now: the branch you are on, and which files are new, changed, or ready to be saved.

git init
git status
ls -a

01A repository is a project with a memory

Git stores the history of a folder in a hidden subfolder called .git. Everything else is your working tree: the files you edit as usual. If you deleted .git, the history would be gone, but your files would stay.

02git init creates the memory

Run git init once, in the top folder of the project. Git answers with the full path of the new repository.

git init

Output

Initialized empty Git repository in /home/learner/website/.git/

03git status is your dashboard

Run git status whenever you are unsure. Right after git init every file is untracked: Git can see it, but it does not save versions of it yet.

git status

Output

On branch main

No commits yet

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
	README.md
	about.md
	index.html
	menu.txt
	style.css

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Your turn

You are in ~/website, a folder with a small website. Turn it into a repository with git init, ask Git what it sees with git status, then list every file with ls -a to spot the new .git folder.

What the checks look for

~/website is a Git repository on the main branch
Checks the status after git init
Shows the hidden .git folder

Try it in the editor →

Take this with you

git init starts the history; git status shows what Git sees right now.

Go a little further

Run cd ~ and then git status. The fatal message shows how Git reacts outside a repository.