Animated GitHub guide for (Vibe)Coders Wannabe

Not a dev? Doesn't matter. Every command has an animated card: you watch what moves and get it instantly — Pull Request included, the one that trips up even real programmers.

15 commands Looping animations

The basic cycle

The loop you do every day: from the code on your machine to GitHub and back.

git init git

You turn any folder into a Git repository, starting from scratch.

clone starts from a project that already exists; init creates one from nothing, on your computer.

git clone git

You download the entire copy of a project from GitHub to your computer. It's the starting point of everything.

git add git

You choose which changes go into the next save, moving them into the staging area.

Staging ≠ saving. You're only preparing the list of what will be included in the commit.

git commit git

You save the selected changes into the project's history, with a message explaining what you did.

The commit stays on your computer. Until you push, nobody else sees it.

git push git

You push your local commits to GitHub: now the work is online, safe, and visible to others.

git pull git

You pull down the changes others have put on GitHub and merge them into your local work.

Heads up: git pull ≠ Pull Request. Same name, different concepts (the PR is further down).

git fetch git

You download what's new on GitHub but do NOT merge it into your work: you set it aside to look at first.

pull = fetch + merge. fetch is the cautious version: download first, decide after.

Finding your way

Harmless commands that tell you where you stand. The ones you type constantly so you don't get lost.

git status git

It tells you where you stand: which files you've changed, what's already staged, what's missing. You'll use it constantly.

It's completely harmless: it changes nothing. When in doubt, git status.

git log git

Shows the history of commits: who did what and when. It's the project's memory.

Working with branches

Parallel lines of work for experimenting without breaking the main branch.

git branch git

You create a parallel line of work starting from where you are: you experiment without touching main.

A branch costs nothing. It's just a label pointing to a commit: you can have as many as you want, in parallel.

git switch git

You move from one branch to another. HEAD marks "where you are now" — where the next commits will land.

It used to be git checkout; today git switch does the same thing more clearly.

git merge git

You merge the work of one branch into another: the two lines become one again.

If the same lines changed on both branches, git asks you how to combine them: that's a merge conflict.

Contributing to a project

How to propose changes to a project that isn't yours, without write access.

fork GitHub

You create your own copy of someone else's project, on your GitHub account, where you can do whatever you want.

It's not a git command. It's a button on the GitHub website: exactly what you need when the project isn't yours.

git remote git

You give names to remote repositories: "origin" is your copy, "upstream" is the original project.

You push to origin, pull updates from upstream.

Pull Request GitHub

From your branch on GitHub you open a proposed change to the original project. The maintainer reviews it and, if they like it, merges it.

The trick: it looks like a push, but it's the opposite — you ask, you don't write. It's called a pull request because it's the maintainer who "pulls in" your work.

Keep exploring

Guides, courses and tools picked for you, starting from this page.

Guide