Set up Git

At the heart of GitHub is an open-source version control system (VCS) called Git. Git is responsible for everything GitHub-related that happens locally on your computer.

In this article

Using Git

To use Git on the command line, you need to download, install, and configure Git on your computer. You can also install GitHub CLI to use GitHub from the command line. For more information, see About GitHub CLI.

If you want to work with Git locally, but do not want to use the command line, you can download and install the GitHub Desktop client. For more information, see About GitHub Desktop.

If you do not need to work with files locally, GitHub lets you complete many Git-related actions directly in the browser, including:

Setting up Git

  1. Download and install the latest version of Git.

    Note

    Most Chrome OS devices from 2020 onwards now have a built-in Linux environment, which includes Git. To enable it, go to the Launcher, search for Linux, and click Turn on.