Git Repository

Repository

A Git Repository is a storage space where your project and its complete version history (all changes to files over time) are tracked by Git, a Version Control System. It is often known as Repo.

• There are Two kinds of Git Repository :

  1. Local Repository : Store on your Computer

  2. Remote Repository : Hosted Online (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)

Components of Git Repository

Component	Type	Description
Working Directory / Folders / Files	Directory	The actual project files you're working on — source code, assets, etc. These can be tracked or untracked by Git.
.git/	Hidden Folder	The heart of the Git repository — contains all the internal data Git needs to manage version control.
objects/	Folder	Stores all Git objects: commits, trees, and blobs. It's Git’s database. Each object is referenced by its hash (SHA-1 or SHA-256).
config	File	Stores local repository configuration (e.g., user info, remotes). View with git config --list.
HEAD	File	A pointer to the current branch or commit. Git uses this to know what you're working on.
logs/	Folder	Keeps track of reference updates (e.g., commits, rebase, reset). Used for git reflog.
index	File	The staging area — holds a snapshot of your next commit. It tracks what will go into the next commit.
hooks/	Folder	Contains scripts that run automatically on Git events like commits or merges (e.g., pre-commit, post-merge).
refs/	Folder	Stores pointers to commit objects, like branches (heads/), remotes, and tags.
branches/	Folder	(Legacy) Used in older Git versions for branch references. Now mostly empty or unused.
description	File	Used by Git web interfaces (like GitWeb) to describe the repo. Not relevant for Git operations.
COMMIT_EDITMSG	File	Stores the commit message from the most recent commit. Git opens this during git commit.
README.md	File	A user-defined file, not part of Git internals. Typically contains documentation or info about the project.

Initialize Git Repository

Step 1 : Create and Navigate to Directory

• create a folder with a project name you want to work,

mkdir <project-name>
cd <project-name>

Step 2 : Initialize the Git Repo

• Run the command inside Git Repo,

git init

• check if it contains, hidden folder .git to confirm if the repo was created or not.

ls -a

• if it Repo was created successfully, it should include .git folder.

Step 3 : Configure the Git Repo

• You need to configure the Git repository to publish it remotely to GitHub.

• There are two ways to Configure Git

  1. Locally : for a specific repository

  2. Globally : for all repositories on your system