GitHub Desktop¶
A simple, yet powerful UI based tool for both git and GitHub that may be useful for all or part of your workflow.
If you already have a git tool you like, or prefer command line tools, this may not be ideal for you. However, it is a great starting point if you are looking for a tool to allow you to easily get started with our GitHub Flow workflow.
The online documentation is more likely to remain up to date than anything we create here, so we’ll just cover the basics of the sections likely to be most of use here.
Cloning¶
The process of making a copy of a repository from GitHub (or any git source, but we’ll focus on GitHub for the remainder of this document) to your local computer is called cloning.
Cloning a repository is the first step in making local changes to files in a repository.
Syncing your local repo¶
Before you make a branch, you’ll always want to synchronize changes from GitHub as your local copies will not automatically stay synchronized.
Creating a branch¶
Branching is a core concept in git. Before you start making changes, you’ll want to create a branch.
You’ll make any changes you’d like to introduce to the repository in a branch. This may include adding, deleting, and editing files.
Making changes¶
Once you have selected a branch in GitHub Desktop, you use whatever editor you want to make the changes.
If you don’t yet have a preference for text editor, Visual Studio Code is a great option. This is different than the full Visual Studio.
Note: tools like Office or Notes are not good choices as they make undesirable changes to the text and will cause you and others pain and suffering. Use a text editor, not a word processor.
Edit and save files like you would normally do (in a text editor for code/text files).
Commits¶
Commits are a way to group a set of proposed changes. Contrary to the name, you are not yet committing to the changes so don’t worry if it’s not perfect!
Pushing changes¶
coming soon!
Pull requests¶
coming soon!