Your First Commit

Create the project folder

Every lab starts from a fresh shell, so ~/project doesn't exist yet. mkdir makes it.

Enter the project folder

cd changes your current directory. Run git init here in the next step — not in your home directory.

Initialize the repository

git init turns the current directory into a Git repository by creating a hidden .git folder. Run this inside ~/project, not your home directory.

Add a file to commit

An empty repository has nothing to commit. Create a README so the first commit has content.

Stage everything

git add . stages every new or changed file in the current directory. Staging is Git's staging area: you pick what goes into the next commit.

Check the status

git status shows the branch you're on and what's staged. README.md should be listed as a change to be committed.

Create the commit

git commit records the staged snapshot permanently. The -m flag supplies the message inline — 'init' is the convention for a first commit.

Verify the history

git log lists the commit history newest first. You should see one commit with the message 'init'.

Submit for validation

The validator checks that ~/project is a Git repository and that a commit with the message 'init' exists in it.