Git & Version Control Glossary
Foundational to advanced terms in Git, GitHub, and modern team workflows
- Git - Free distributed version control system that tracks every change and enables collaboration.
- Repository - A folder under Git tracking - project files plus a hidden .git directory with full history.
- Commit - A snapshot of your project with author, timestamp, message, and unique SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm) hash.
- Branch - A movable pointer to a commit - used to develop in parallel without disturbing main.
- Merge - Combine changes from one branch into another, producing integrated history.
- Clone - Download a complete copy of a remote repository - every commit, branch, tag.
- Push - Upload local commits to a remote repository.
- Pull - Fetch and immediately merge (or rebase) remote commits into the current branch.
- Remote - A named pointer to another copy of the repository (GitHub, GitLab, etc.).
- GitHub - The most popular hosting platform for Git repositories, owned by Microsoft.
- Pull Request - A request to merge changes from one branch into another, with review and CI (Continuous Integration).
- Staging Area - Intermediate snapshot of changes queued for the next commit - moved in via git add.
- Working Directory - The actual files on disk that you edit - distinct from staging and committed history.
- .gitignore - A text file listing patterns Git should never track: build artifacts, secrets, large data.
- Fetch - Download new remote commits without changing any local branches.