Creating Repositories

A Git repository is a directory containing:

• Your project files and folders
• A .git/ folder with version history and configuration

What Is a Git Repo?

Git repo = Project folder + Git storage

💡 Do not modify anything inside .git/

Why Make a Git Repo?

Create a New Git Repo

git init mental-health-workspace
cd mental-health-workspace

Now check the status:

git status

Expected:

On branch main
No commits yet
nothing to commit (create/copy files and use "git add" to track)

Convert Existing Folder to Git Repo

cd existing-folder
git init

Expected Output:

Initialized empty Git repository in /path/to/folder/.git/

What Is Being Tracked?

git status

Example Output:

On branch main

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        data/
        report.md

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Nested Repositories ⚠️

🚫 Never place a Git repo inside another Git repo

Why?

• Two .git/ directories confuse Git
• Git won’t know which repository to update

Try It Yourself

Problem 1: Create a Repository

mkdir my-project
cd my-project
git init

Problem 2: Inspect an Existing Folder

cd /path/to/folder
git status