If you run a small business, the last thing you want to do is juggle all the parts of your evolving ecommerce website. That’s where a version-control system like GitHub comes in. It’s somewhere your team can share and collaborate on code. They can experiment freely, knowing there’s always the option to go back to a version that works.
Need to redesign your landing page, fix bugs, and add a blog section all at once? Your team can work on each project simultaneously, then merge everything back together when ready.
GitHub is essential for managing code. Learn how its core features work together to protect your projects, and the exact steps to set up your first repository.
What is GitHub?
GitHub is a distributed version control system and code hosting platform. In other words, GitHub stores every version of your website you create, allowing you to go back to a previous one at any time.
If you try out a cool new feature and decide it’s not so cool after all, then you can revert to a recent version instantly. Version control is what makes GitHub so useful. Software has many interconnected files, and if any one of those contains a glitch, the whole thing can fall apart. Version control gives you the luxury of tinkering, trying out ideas, and adding new features—all while keeping previous versions safe.
You can also let other people work on your code by making a new branch (essentially, a new project), and when they’re done, you can quickly merge their changes back into your main branch using version control. Maybe you want to add a new section to your store, redesign the landing page, fix bugs, and add a blog—and you want your team to work on each project simultaneously. Then, when you are happy with your changes, you can merge each new version back into the main branch.
Git vs. GitHub
Git is the open-source version-control software that does all the work. GitHub is a cloud-based service that runs Git and allows you to store files online. GitHub brings a cloud-hosting platform and collaboration tools, and it makes Git’s powerful tools easy to use in a collaborative interface.
This distinction matters because Git handles version control locally on your computer, while GitHub adds collaboration tools and cloud backup—meaning your team can work together from anywhere and your code is never lost.
How does GitHub work?
The point of GitHub is to make organizing and sharing software projects as easy as possible. It lets you break down the project into branches, distribute those branches among various developers (or work on them all yourself), and then review each branch before committing it back into the main branch. GitHub’s power comes from these seven features that work together to protect your code and enable collaboration.
1. Repositories
A GitHub repository is like a vault that stores your project. It contains all the code and the structure for it (files, directories, etc.), along with a record of all the changes made to the project. The repository lives on GitHub, and you can duplicate your own Git repository to your computer and sync it back to the original repository at any time. If you create a repository on your own computer, you’ll have to sync it to GitHub before you can start collaborating.
Repositories also let you download other people’s code. If someone makes their source code available, then you can download it for your own use. For your organization, your GitHub repositories will be places for your software developers to work on projects together.
While working in your repository, you will often “commit” your code, which is like saving a document. GitHub records the changes made, who made them, and when. You also have to write a short description of the changes for anyone viewing them in the future.
2. Branches
A “branch” is the GitHub term for a section of your project. You begin with your master branch. To try out new ideas with zero risk, you create a new branch, which begins as a copy of the master branch. You can then debug, rewrite, or try out new features and designs on this new copy. You can create many branches and merge any of them back into the main branch. You can also use features like branch protection to stop branches from getting deleted or prevent someone from merging them back into the master branch by mistake.
Here’s a tip: If you have multiple developers working on your ecommerce store, then have each one work on their own branch. They can work on their code at their own pace and merge back into the main branch when it’s ready.
3. Forks
A fork is a copy of an entire repository, and unlike a branch, it’s effectively a fresh start. You may never need one if you’re working on a single project, but they are commonly used in open-source projects. A fork creates a whole new instance, which is not connected to the original. A fork is useful if you want to build a new project on top of some existing open-source software.
For most single-project stores, you’ll rarely use forks—branches handle what you need. But if you’re building on open-source ecommerce tools, forks let you customize that code without affecting the original. Anyone can fork open-source code, so it’s also handy for anyone who wants to, say, propose changes to open-source projects when they don’t have any permission to branch that project.
4. Pull requests (PRs)
When you’re done working on a new branch, you’ll probably want to merge it back into the main branch. That’s when you make a pull request to “pull” your changes back into the default branch. Once you’ve made a pull request, you can continue to work on your branch and add any changes to the request. Contributors can then see the request, add comments, review code, and even—if the contributor has permission to do so—approve the request, all in a collaborative interface. If you’re working alone in your own private repositories on a single project, pull requests may be less important.
5. Issues
Issues are where other GitHub users can communicate with you. Issues help you catch bugs before customers do. When collaborators or users spot problems, they can report them directly in GitHub, creating a trackable record that ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
You can use Issues to track bugs, make feature requests, or contribute ideas. They also allow you to ensure quality control and track changes to your code.
If you’re used to using social networking sites or project management software, you’ll be immediately at home in GitHub Issues. You can @mention collaborators via their GitHub user name and link to other issues with a hashtag (#). In short, it’s a lightweight way to work with both your collaborators and the more savvy users of your software.
6. GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions automates repetitive tasks, like testing code changes before they go live—catching bugs automatically instead of manually checking every update to your store. GitHub Actions is where you can automate almost anything. It might be the part of GitHub that saves you the most time. In Actions, you build workflows, a series of steps that trigger automatically. For example, Actions can automatically build and test every pull request submitted to your repository, including your own. If you feel overwhelmed at the idea of building your own automations, there are plenty of people sharing their own Actions, which you can either use as-is or modify for your own needs.
7. GitHub Pages
You can host a simple, static website right on GitHub using GitHub Pages. A static website is one that doesn’t run complicated scripts. Examples include a portfolio, a blog, or a newsletter-type site. Pages integrate into GitHub’s code-hosting platform so your commits can be automatically pushed to your site, and you can also use branches to experiment with new designs and roll back to a previous design at any point.
How to get started with GitHub
Getting started with Github takes less than 30 minutes.
Steps one, two, and six happen only once—after that, it’s just creating and coding.
1. Download GitHub Desktop. Available from the GitHub homepage, this is the app that syncs with your Git repositories in GitHub.
2. Sign up for a free account. Click the button in the app and follow along with the sign-up process for a free GitHub account.
3. Create a local repository. Start from scratch with a new repository name, or download an existing repository from the internet via the app.
4. Create a remote repository. Save your new repository to GitHub so it syncs to your local one, and add a ReadMe file.
5. Set up a branch and explore. Have a good look around GitHub’s interface to see how everything works before rolling up your sleeves and digging in.
6. Install tools. You can use GitHub Copilot, install command-line tools, and learn GitHub’s custom commands to make life much easier.
7. Get coding. Upload files, organize your projects, and build your site.
What is GitHub FAQ
What is the GitHub app used for?
GitHub Desktop and GitHub Mobile let you work on your repositories locally and offline. Maybe you travel a lot and don’t have an internet connection, or maybe you don’t like working in a web-based interface because you prefer all the keyboard shortcuts and locally saved files of a native app. With that said, your favorite software development tools almost certainly integrate directly with GitHub, since its usage is so ubiquitous, so you’ll likely need to use the cloud application at some point.
What is the point of using GitHub?
GitHub solves a fundamental problem: How do you let multiple people work on code without everything breaking? Version control means you can experiment freely, knowing you can always roll back.
By working on branches, you never need to mess up your live store. Since every commit and change is backed up, you can roll back to a previous known-good version if anything ever goes belly up. GitHub lets you easily collaborate, track issues and bug fixes, and manage all your software development.
What are the disadvantages of Git?
Git can be complex and hard to learn. You need to learn how to use its commands, so for a very small one-off project, it might not be worth it. Moving large projects into Git can be daunting, and you might have to reorganize a large codebase into smaller chunks.
