GitHub: Your Home for Code

What it is

GitHub is a website where your code lives. Think of it like Google Drive, but

built specifically for code — it tracks every change you ever make, so you can

always go back, see what changed, and never lose work.

Under the hood it uses Git, a tool that takes snapshots of your files.

GitHub is where those snapshots are stored online and shared.

What it does for you

• Backup — your code survives a dead laptop. It's on GitHub.
• History — every change is recorded with a message. "Broke the login page"

is findable and reversible.

• Collaboration — other people (or your agents) can work on the same

project without overwriting each other.

• Proof of work — your GitHub profile is your portfolio. People hire based

on what they see there.

The setup process

Step 1: Create an account

Go to github.com and sign up. Pick a username you'll

keep — it's your professional identity. (Verified: signup page live 2026-09-19.)

Step 2: Install Git

Check if you have it:

git --version

You should see something like git version 2.43.0. If not:

• Mac: xcode-select --install
• Windows: download from git-scm.com
• Linux: sudo apt install git

(Verified: git --version returns git version 2.43.0 on this machine.)

Step 3: Install the GitHub CLI

The gh tool lets you do GitHub things from your terminal:

# Mac
brew install gh
# Windows (winget)
winget install GitHub.cli
# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt install gh

Verify: gh --version → gh version 2.101.0 or newer.

(Verified 2026-09-19: gh 2.101.0 installed and responding.)

Step 4: Log in

gh auth login

Follow the prompts — the easiest path is the browser flow. It opens a page,

you click authorize, done. Check it worked:

gh auth status

(Verified: gh auth login --help documents the browser flow and --with-token

alternative; minimum scopes are repo, read:org, gist.)

Step 5: Create your first repo

gh repo create my-first-project --private --clone

This creates a private repository on GitHub *and* clones it to your computer.

(Verified: gh repo create --help confirms --private/--public flags and

--clone behavior.)

Step 6: Make a change and push it

cd my-first-project
echo "# My First Project" > README.md
git add README.md
git commit -m "Add README"
git push

That's the core loop you'll use forever: change → add → commit → push.

The value, plainly

Without GitHub, your code lives in one place and one accident wipes it out.

With GitHub, every version is saved, timestamped, and restorable. When you

work with agents (like Muse), they push to GitHub too — so you always have a

record of what was built, when, and why. It's the difference between building

on sand and building on a foundation.

Quick reference