@mention
to notify a person on GitHub by using @ before their username. Users in an organization on GitHub can also be a part of a team that can be mentioned.
access token
A token that is used in place of a password when performing Git operations over HTTPS with Git on the command line or the API. Also called a personal access token.
account recovery token
The authentication credential stored as part of an account recovery setup called Recover Accounts Elsewhere that allows you to store this backup credential.
API preview
A way to try out new APIs and changes to existing API methods before they become part of the official GitHub API.
appliance
A software application combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) to run optimally on industry-standard hardware (typically a server) or in a virtual machine.
assignee
The user that is assigned to an issue.
authentication code
A code you'll supply, in addition to your GitHub password, when signing in with 2FA via the browser. This code is either generated by an application or delivered to your phone via text message. Also called a "2FA authentication code."
base branch
The branch into which changes are combined when you merge a pull request. When you create a pull request, you can change the base branch from the repository's default branch to another branch if required.
basic authentication
A method of authentication where the credentials are sent as unencrypted text.
bio
The user-generated description found on a profile: Adding a bio to your profile
billing cycle
The interval of time for your specific billing plan.
billing email
The organization email address where GitHub sends receipts, credit card or PayPal charges, and other billing-related communication.
billing manager
The organization member that manages billing settings for an organization.
billing plan
Payment plans for users and organizations that include set features for each type of plan.
blame
The "blame" feature in Git describes the last modification to each line of a file, which generally displays the revision, author and time. This is helpful, for example, in tracking down when a feature was added, or which commit led to a particular bug.
block
To remove a user's ability to collaborate on an organization's repositories.
branch
A branch is a parallel version of a repository. It is contained within the repository, but does not affect the primary or main branch allowing you to work freely without disrupting the "live" version. When you've made the changes you want to make, you can merge your branch back into the main branch to publish your changes.
branch restriction
A restriction that repository admins can enable so that only certain users or teams can push or make certain changes to the branch.
Business plan
An organization billing plan where you can collaborate on unlimited public and private repositories, allow or require organization members to authenticate to GitHub using SAML SSO, and provision and deprovision access with SAML or SCIM.
CA certificate
A digital certificate issued by Certificate Authority (CA) that ensures there are valid connections between two machines, such as a user's computer and GitHub.com and verifies the ownership of a site.
card
A movable square within a project board associated with an issue or pull request.
Check
A check is a type of status check on GitHub Enterprise Server. See "Status checks."
checkout
You can use git checkout on the command line to create a new branch, change your current working branch to a different branch, or even to switch to a different version of a file from a different branch with git checkout [branchname] [path to file]. The "checkout" action updates all or part of the working tree with a tree object or blob from the object database, and updates the index and HEAD if the whole working tree is pointing to a new branch.
cherry-picking
To choose a subset of changes from a series of changes (typically commits) and record them as a new series of changes on top of a different codebase. In Git, this is performed by the git cherry-pick command to extract the change introduced by an existing commit on another branch and to record it based on the tip of the current branch as a new commit.
child team
Within nested teams, the subteam that inherits the parent team's access permissions and @mentions.
clean
A working tree is clean if it corresponds to the revision referenced by the current HEAD. Also see "dirty".
clone
A clone is a copy of a repository that lives on your computer instead of on a website's server somewhere, or the act of making that copy. When you make a clone, you can edit the files in your preferred editor and use Git to keep track of your changes without having to be online. The repository you cloned is still connected to the remote version so that you can push your local changes to the remote to keep them synced when you're online.
clustering
The ability to run GitHub Enterprise services across multiple nodes and load balance requests between them.
Code frequency graph
A repository graph that shows the content additions and deletions for each week in a repository's history.
code of conduct
A document that defines standards for how to engage in a community.
code owner
A person who is designated as an owner of a portion of a repository's code. The code owner is automatically requested for review when someone opens a pull request (not in draft mode) that makes changes to code the code owner owns.
collaborator
A collaborator is a person with read and write access to a repository who has been invited to contribute by the repository owner.
commit
A commit, or "revision", is an individual change to a file (or set of files). When you make a commit to save your work, Git creates a unique ID (a.k.a. the "SHA" or "hash") that allows you to keep record of the specific changes committed along with who made them and when. Commits usually contain a commit message which is a brief description of what changes were made.