{% data variables.product.product_name %} repositories store a variety of projects. In this guide, you'll create a repository and commit your first change.

{% webui %}

{% data reusables.repositories.create_new %}

1. Type a short, memorable name for your repository. For example, "hello-world".

   

2. Optionally, add a description of your repository. For example, "My first repository on {% data variables.product.product_name %}." {% data reusables.repositories.choose-repo-visibility %} {% data reusables.repositories.initialize-with-readme %} {% data reusables.repositories.create-repo %}

Congratulations! You've successfully created your first repository, and initialized it with a README file.

{% endwebui %}

{% cli %}

{% data reusables.cli.cli-learn-more %}

1. In the command line, navigate to the directory where you would like to create a local clone of your new project.
2. To create a repository for your project, use the gh repo create subcommand. When prompted, select Create a new repository on GitHub from scratch and enter the name of your new project. If you want your project to belong to an organization instead of to your personal account, specify the organization name and project name with organization-name/project-name.
3. Follow the interactive prompts. To clone the repository locally, confirm yes when asked if you would like to clone the remote project directory.
4. Alternatively, to skip the prompts supply the repository name and a visibility flag (--public, --private, or --internal). For example, gh repo create project-name --public. To clone the repository locally, pass the --clone flag. For more information about possible arguments, see the GitHub CLI manual.

{% endcli %}

{% webui %}

A commit is like a snapshot of all the files in your project at a particular point in time.

When you created your new repository, you initialized it with a README file. README files are a great place to describe your project in more detail, or add some documentation such as how to install or use your project. The contents of your README file are automatically shown on the front page of your repository.

Let's commit a change to the README file.

1. In your repository's list of files, select README.md.

   {% data reusables.repositories.edit-file-button %}

2. In the text box, type some information about yourself. {% data reusables.files.preview_change %}

3. Review the changes you made to the file. If you select Show diff, you will see the new content in green.

   {% data reusables.files.write_commit_message %} {% data reusables.files.choose_commit_branch %} {% data reusables.files.propose_file_change %}

{% endwebui %}

{% cli %}

Now that you have created a project, you can start committing changes.

README files are a great place to describe your project in more detail, or add some documentation such as how to install or use your project. The contents of your README file are automatically shown on the front page of your repository. Follow these steps to add a README file.

1. In the command line, navigate to the root directory of your new project. (This directory was created when you ran the gh repo create command.)

2. Create a README file with some information about the project.

   echo "info about this project" >> README.md

3. Enter git status. You will see that you have an untracked README.md file.

   $ git status
   
   Untracked files:
     (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
     README.md
   
   nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

4. Stage and commit the file.

   git add README.md && git commit -m "Add README"

5. Push the changes to your branch.

   git push --set-upstream origin HEAD

{% endcli %}

You have now created a repository, including a README file, and created your first commit on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}.

{% webui %}

• You can now clone a {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} repository to create a local copy on your computer. From your local repository you can commit, and create a pull request to update the changes in the upstream repository. For more information, see "AUTOTITLE" and "AUTOTITLE."

{% endwebui %}

• You can find interesting projects and repositories on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} and make changes to them by creating a fork of the repository. {% data reusables.getting-started.fork-a-repository %}

• {% data reusables.getting-started.being-social %}

• {% data reusables.support.connect-in-the-forum-bootcamp %}