GitHub
A short hands-on course that teaches GitHub basics by making a profile README.skills/introduction-to-github
- Stars
- 10.8k
- Forks
- 19.8k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- —
- Last update
- 5 months ago
- Type
- Learning resource
What it is
This is a guided exercise from GitHub Skills that walks a new user through the basics of GitHub: repositories, branches, commits, and pull requests. You copy the exercise into your own account, and an automated helper prepares the lessons. The course takes less than an hour and ends with a short Markdown file you can use as your profile README.
- Create a branch in a repository and commit a file to it
- Open a pull request and merge it
- Build a Markdown profile README for your GitHub account
Great for
- People who have never used GitHub before
- Students starting their first day with version control
- Developers who want a hands-on walkthrough of the pull request workflow
- Anyone who wants a public GitHub profile README as a result
Not ideal for
- Experienced developers who already know Git and GitHub, since the course covers basics only
- People who need an offline or non-GitHub tutorial, because the exercise runs inside GitHub
- Users who want to learn advanced topics such as Actions, CI, or code review at depth, which the README does not cover
How to get it
- 1
Use it in the browser (or self-host)
You'll need: A GitHub account
Copy the exercise (use the Copy Exercise button in the README)
git clone https://github.com/skills/introduction-to-github - 2
Run it
- Click the Copy Exercise button in the README to create your own copy of the repository.
- Wait about 20 seconds for the first lesson to be prepared, then refresh the page.
- Follow the lesson steps to create a branch, commit a file, open a pull request, and merge it.
- If the lesson does not appear, check the Actions tab in your copied repository for a running or failed job.
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the Actions tab in your copy to check whether setup is still running if the first lesson is slow to appear
- Create the copy as a public repository, as recommended, to avoid using Actions minutes
- Use the finished Markdown file as your GitHub profile README
- Report any failed setup job as an issue on the project, as the README asks
Downloads
Strengths
- Short, focused, and designed to finish in under an hour
- Requires no prerequisites according to the README
- Teaches the core workflow by doing it in a real repository
Trade-offs
- Covers only the basics: repositories, branches, commits, and pull requests
- Setup depends on an automated job that can take longer than 20 seconds or fail, with troubleshooting pointed to the Actions tab
- Repositories created from the template should be public to avoid using Actions minutes
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| introduction-to-github (this) | 10.8k | Learning resource | beginner | 5 months ago | People who have never used GitHub before |
| learnGitBranching | 34.2k | Learning resource | beginner | 7 days ago | Beginners who want to see what git commands do to commits and branches |
| tips | 21.7k | Learning resource | beginner | 6 days ago | Developers who already use git and want quick recipes for everyday tasks |
| github-cheat-sheet | 60.1k | Curated list | beginner | 2.6 years ago | Developers who already use Git and GitHub daily and want to discover lesser-known features |
| lazygit | 83.6k | CLI | beginner | 6 days ago | Developers who already use git from the command line and want a faster overview of their repository |
| gitea | 58.8k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | Teams that want to host their own code instead of using a public cloud service |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.