How-To Guide

How to Install Git

Git is the version control system every developer uses. Install it once, use it forever. Here's the complete setup on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

📚 What is Git?

Git is a version control system — software that tracks every change you make to your code. It's used by virtually every professional developer and team in the world.

Git lets you:

Save snapshots of your code at any point (called "commits")
Roll back to a previous version if you break something
Work on branches without affecting the main code
Collaborate with other developers without overwriting work
Publish your code to GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket

💡 Git is the tool. GitHub is a website that hosts Git repositories. You install Git on your computer, then push to GitHub.

📋 What You'll Need

A computer running Windows 10/11, macOS 11+, or Linux
An internet connection
About 50 MB of free disk space
Basic familiarity with the terminal — see our Command Line guide if you're new

✅ Git is completely free and open source.

Download Git

Go to the official website:

👉 git-scm.com/downloads

;

Choose your operating system:

Windows: Click "Windows" → the installer downloads automatically
Mac: Click "macOS" → you can install via Homebrew or download the installer
Linux: Click "Linux" → use the recommended command for your distro

💡 Mac users: You might already have Git installed. Open Terminal and run git --version. If it says a version number, you already have it. If it asks you to install developer tools, click "Install" — that installs Git automatically.

Run the Installer

Windows:

Open the downloaded .exe file
Click "Next" through the welcome screen
Accept the license
Keep the default install location
Important step: On the "Choosing the default editor" screen, choose Visual Studio Code if you have it installed
On "Adjusting your PATH environment", keep "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software" selected
On the "HTTPS transport backend" screen, keep "Use the OpenSSL library"
On "Configuring the line ending conversions", keep "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style"
Keep the remaining defaults
Click "Install" → "Finish"

Mac (via Homebrew):

brew install git

Or use the official installer from git-scm.com.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

For Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install git

Verify the Installation

Open a fresh terminal window (important — old windows won't see PATH changes):

git --version

You should see something like:

git version 2.43.0

If you see a version number, Git is installed.

Need help opening a terminal? See our Command Line Basics guide.

Configure Your Identity (One-Time Setup)

Before your first commit, Git needs to know who you are. Every commit you make includes a name and email.

Set your name:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"

Set your email (use the same email you'll use for GitHub):

git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Verify your settings:

git config --list

You should see your name and email listed.

💡 What does --global mean? It sets the config for every Git repository on your computer. You can also set values per-project by omitting --global.

Your First Commit

Let's create a test project and make your first commit.

1. Create a folder and enter it:

mkdir git-test
cd git-test

2. Initialize a Git repository:

git init

You should see: Initialized empty Git repository in ...

3. Create a test file:

# Mac/Linux
touch hello.txt

# Windows
type nul > hello.txt

4. Check the status:

git status

You'll see hello.txt listed as "untracked".

5. Stage the file:

git add hello.txt

6. Commit it:

git commit -m "First commit"

You should see something like:

[main (root-commit) a1b2c3d] First commit
1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 hello.txt

🎉 Congratulations — you've made your first Git commit!

🛠️ The Essential Git Commands

These are the 7 commands you'll use almost every day:

git status

See what files have changed since your last commit.

git add filename.txt

Stage a file to be included in the next commit. Use git add . to stage everything.

git commit -m "message"

Save a snapshot with a descriptive message.

git log

See the history of commits. Add --oneline for a compact view.

git diff

See exactly what changed in unstaged files.

git branch

List all branches. git branch name creates a new one.

git pull / git push

Get the latest changes from a remote (GitHub) or send your commits to it.

🔧 Common Errors (and Fixes)

❌ 'git' is not recognized as an internal or external command

Git isn't on your PATH. Fixes:

Close and reopen your terminal
Reboot your computer if that doesn't work
On Windows, reinstall Git and ensure it uses the default install location

❌ "Please tell me who you are" error on first commit

You skipped Step 4. Run:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

❌ "fatal: not a git repository"

You're not inside a Git repo folder. Either cd into the correct folder, or run git init to create a new repository.

❌ "nothing to commit, working tree clean"

You haven't made any changes since your last commit, or you forgot to git add your changes first.

❌ Permission denied when using SSH to GitHub

You need to add an SSH key to GitHub. For your first push, use HTTPS instead of SSH — simpler for beginners:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/yourusername/repo.git

;

❌ Accidentally committed sensitive data (passwords, API keys)

Rotate the exposed keys immediately. Then use .gitignore to prevent future accidents:

# In .gitignore
.env
secrets.txt
node_modules/

🎯 What's Next?

Git is installed. Next, put your code on the internet for free.

📖 All How-To Guides

Browse the full setup series.

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💻 How to Install VS Code

The best free code editor.

⌨️ Command Line Basics

Terminal commands for beginners.

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