Git workflow

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Staging Area

  • An intermediate area between working directory and commit
  • Holds changes that are ready to be committed
  • Files enter the staging area using git add

Commit

After staging, files are ready to be committed.

  • A commit is a snapshot of the repository at a specific time
  • It saves the current state of the project
  • Each commit includes a message describing the changes

Before making your first commit, configure Git with name and email.

# locally : only for the current repo
git config user.name "Your Name"    
git config user.email "you@example.com"

# globally : applies to all repositories on  system
git config --global user.name "Your Name"   
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

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Common options:

git commit                 # opens editor to write message
git commit -m "message"    # commit with a message
git commit -a -m "message" # stage & commit tracked files
git commit --amend         # edit last commit
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Git Commit Dependency

  • In Git, every commit depends on the previous commit
  • The first commit has no parent
  • Each commit forms a linked history, allowing Git to track changes over time

Commit Message Reminder

  • Keep each commit focused on one change (feature, component, or fix)
  • Use present tense and imperative mood
  • Think of the message as a command to the codebase

Example:

  • ✅ Add user login validation
  • ❌ Added user login validation

Git is made up of objects that are stored in the .git/objects directory. A commit is just a type of object.