Lesson 05 — Pushing and Pulling

Goal

Send commits to GitHub and bring updates from GitHub back to your computer.

What push and pull mean

git push

Sends your local commits to GitHub.

git pull

Brings new commits from GitHub to your computer.

Checklist

1. Start by pulling the latest changes

Before making your own change, get the latest work from GitHub:

git pull

• I pulled the latest changes from GitHub.

2. Make a small change

Edit a file, such as README.md.

For practice, add one short sentence like:

Practicing push and pull.

• I made one small file change.

3. Check status

Run:

git status

Git should show that a file has changed.

Important: a changed file is not ready to push yet. git push only sends commits to GitHub. It does not commit file changes for you.

• I can see my changed file.
• I understand that an uncommitted file change will not be pushed.

4. Stage and commit the change

Stage the file:

git add README.md

Replace README.md with the file you changed.

Commit the staged change:

git commit -m "docs: practice pushing a commit"

• I staged my changed file.
• I committed the change.

5. Confirm you have a commit to push

Run:

git status

Git may say your branch is ahead of origin/main by one commit. That means you have a local commit that GitHub does not have yet.

• I know whether I have local commits to push.

6. Push your commit

Run:

git push

If this is the first push on a new branch, Git may ask you to use:

git push -u origin branch-name

• My commit was pushed to GitHub.

7. Confirm on GitHub

• I opened the repository in GitHub.
• I can see my change or commit.

Important beginner habit

Before starting work each day, run:

git pull

Before and after each major step, run:

git status

Completion check

• I can push commits to GitHub.
• I can pull changes from GitHub.
• I understand that push sends changes up.
• I understand that pull brings changes down.