Cheatsheet: Your first repo

Voice anchor

Git stores snapshots. Every other command is just navigating those snapshots.

The commands (memorize these five)

Command	Purpose	Example
git init	Create new repo	git init
git status	Show current state	git status
git add <file>	Stage a change	git add notes.txt
git add .	Stage everything in current dir	git add .
git commit -m "msg"	Take a snapshot	git commit -m "Add notes"

The three areas

Area	What it holds	How you change it
Working directory	Files as they exist on disk right now	Edit files in any way (editor, file manager)
Staging area	A draft of the next snapshot	git add moves changes here
Repository	Permanent history of all snapshots	git commit saves the staging area as a new snapshot

Daily commit cycle

1. Edit files
2. git add <files>
3. git commit -m "meaningful message"
4. git status (confirm clean state)

Minimal .gitignore (start here, add as needed)

# Build output
dist/
build/

# Dependencies (use bare name for symlink-safe matching)
node_modules

# Editor files
.idea/
.vscode/
*.swp

# Secrets
.env
.env.local

# OS artifacts
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

What’s in L3

L3 teaches commit hygiene: writing meaningful commit messages, making commits atomic (one logical change per commit), and the Conventional Commits convention popular on many teams. The mechanics are now muscle memory; L3 adds the discipline that makes the muscle memory useful over time.