Initializing a Repository and Inspecting File States

To track a project with Git, you must initialize a local repository.

1. Initializing a Repository

Open your terminal, navigate to your project directory, and initialize Git:

# Initialize local git repository
git init

This command creates a hidden .git directory in your root folder. This folder contains all version tracking data and history logs; deleting it removes all tracking history.

2. Inspecting the Workspace Status

Use git status to see which files are currently tracked, untracked, modified, or staged:

git status

The output highlights file states in different colors:

• Untracked files (Red): New files created in your working directory that Git has not started tracking yet.
• Changes not staged for commit (Red): Modified versions of existing, tracked files.
• Changes to be committed (Green): Files added to the Staging Area, ready to be committed.