Hands-on Lab TP1 — Installation & First Repository

Hands-on Lab 45 min Module 00

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Objectives

By the end of this lab, you will have:

• Git installed and verified on your machine
• Your identity configured (name + email)
• An SSH key generated and added to GitHub
• Your first repository created
• Your first commit made
• A .gitignore file configured
• The result pushed to GitHub

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Part 1: Verify Installation

Open your terminal and run:

# Check Git version (must be 2.x.x)
git --version

# Check GitHub CLI
gh --version

# Check SSH agent is running
ssh-agent -s

Expected results

You should see version numbers for each command. If any fails, go back to the installation lesson.

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Part 2: Configure Git

# Configure your identity (replace with your real info)
git config --global user.name "Your Full Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

# Configure VS Code as editor
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

# Set 'main' as default branch
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# Configure line endings
# Windows:
git config --global core.autocrlf true
# macOS/Linux:
git config --global core.autocrlf input

# Add useful aliases
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --decorate --all"
git config --global alias.st status

# Verify your configuration
git config --list

Expected output of git config --list:

user.name=Your Full Name
user.email=your.email@example.com
core.editor=code --wait
init.defaultbranch=main
core.autocrlf=true (or input)
alias.lg=log --oneline --graph --decorate --all
alias.st=status

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Part 3: SSH Key Setup

# Generate SSH key (replace with your email)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"
# → Press Enter for all prompts (or add a passphrase for more security)

# Start SSH agent
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

# Add key to agent
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# Display your public key to copy it
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

On GitHub:

1. Go to github.com/settings/keys
2. Click New SSH key
3. Title: My Laptop 2026
4. Paste the key content
5. Click Add SSH key

Test the connection:

ssh -T git@github.com
# Expected: Hi your-username! You've successfully authenticated...

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Part 4: Create Your First Project

# Create the project folder
mkdir git-tp1-first-project
cd git-tp1-first-project

# Initialize Git
git init

# Verify the .git folder was created
ls -la

Create Project Files

Create a README.md file with this content:

# My First Git Project

A project created during the Git & GitHub course at InSkillBoost.

## Author

Your Name — your.email@example.com

## Description

This project demonstrates the basic concepts of Git:
- Repository initialization
- Staging and committing
- History management

Create a hello.py file:

def greet(name):
    """Greet a person by name."""
    return f"Hello, {name}! Welcome to Git."

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print(greet("World"))
    print(greet("Git"))

Create a .gitignore file:

# Python
__pycache__/
*.pyc
*.pyo
venv/
.env

# OS
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Editor
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp

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Part 5: Your First Commits

# Check initial status
git status

You should see 3 untracked files.

# Add README.md first
git add README.md
git status
# README.md should appear under "Changes to be committed"

# Make first commit
git commit -m "docs: add README with project description"

# Add the remaining files
git add hello.py .gitignore
git status

# Make second commit
git commit -m "feat: add hello.py and .gitignore"

# View history
git log
git lg   # with the alias we created

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Part 6: Push to GitHub

Create the Repository on GitHub

# Use GitHub CLI to create the repository
gh repo create git-tp1-first-project --public --description "TP1 - First Git Repository"

Or manually:

1. Go to github.com/new
2. Repository name: git-tp1-first-project
3. Don't initialize with README (we already have one locally)
4. Click Create repository

Link and Push

# Add the remote (replace with your GitHub username)
git remote add origin git@github.com:YOUR_USERNAME/git-tp1-first-project.git

# Push your commits
git push -u origin main

# Verify on GitHub
gh repo view --web
# Or open your browser to your GitHub repository

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Validation Checklist

Verify each point before marking the lab complete:

• git --version shows version 2.x.x
• git config user.name shows your name
• git config user.email shows your email
• ssh -T git@github.com succeeds
• git log shows 2 commits with meaningful messages
• The .gitignore file is committed
• The repository is visible on GitHub with both commits

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Bonus Challenges

1. Modify README.md → Add a "Technologies Used" section → Make a third commit
2. Create a src/ folder with a utils.py file → Add and commit
3. Test .gitignore: Create a venv/ folder → Verify git status doesn't show it
4. Explore git show: git show HEAD — what does it display?

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

Committed a .env file by accident?

# Remove from tracking (but keep the file locally)
git rm --cached .env

# Add .env to .gitignore
echo ".env" >> .gitignore

# Commit the correction
git add .gitignore
git commit -m "fix: remove .env from tracking"

If you already pushed to GitHub, you need to notify your team and rotate all credentials!

Wrong commit message?

# Correct the LAST commit (before pushing)
git commit --amend -m "New correct message"

# Warning: never amend a commit already pushed to a shared branch

Forgot to add a file to the last commit?

# Add the forgotten file
git add forgotten-file.txt

# Add it to the last commit
git commit --amend --no-edit
# --no-edit keeps the original commit message

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Summary

You have successfully:

1. Installed and configured Git
2. Set up SSH key authentication
3. Created a local Git repository
4. Made multiple meaningful commits
5. Pushed your work to GitHub

You're ready for Module 01 — Git Fundamentals!