Core Git Commands

These are the commands you'll use every single day. Master these and you're 80% there.

The basic workflow

1. Edit files
2. git add <file>     # Stage changes
3. git commit -m "..."  # Save a snapshot
4. git push             # Upload to GitHub

Essential commands

# Check what changed
git status

# See history
git log --oneline

# Stage files
git add index.html          # one file
git add .                   # all changes in current dir

# Commit
git commit -m "Add login page"
git commit -am "Fix typo"   # add + commit tracked files

# Push & pull
git push origin main        # upload changes
git pull origin main        # download changes

# Undo last commit (keep changes)
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Discard changes in a file
git checkout -- filename.html

# See changes not yet staged
git diff

Writing good commit messages

# Bad
git commit -m "fix"
git commit -m "stuff"

# Good
git commit -m "Fix login redirect after password reset"
git commit -m "Add dark mode toggle to navbar"
git commit -m "Refactor: extract validation into helpers.js"