Saving Your Work

Checking your work

Before and after committing, there are three commands that help you understand what’s going on:

git status — What’s changed?

git status

This shows:

• Untracked files — new files git doesn’t know about yet
• Modified files — existing files that have changed
• Staged files — files ready to be committed

Run this frequently. It’s your dashboard.

git log — What have I committed?

git log --oneline

This shows a list of your commits, newest first:

a1b2c3d Add contact form with validation
e4f5g6h Update homepage hero section
i7j8k9l Initial commit

Each line shows a unique commit ID (the letters/numbers) and your commit message. The --oneline flag keeps it compact.

git diff — What exactly changed?

git diff

This shows line-by-line what changed in your files since the last commit. Lines starting with + were added, lines starting with - were removed.

<h1>Welcome</h1>
<h1>Welcome to My Portfolio</h1>

Undoing mistakes

One of git’s greatest powers is letting you undo things:

Undo changes to a specific file (before committing)

git checkout -- filename.txt

This reverts the file to its last committed version. The changes are gone.

Undo all changes since last commit

git checkout .

This reverts all files. Use with caution — all uncommitted changes are lost.

Undo the last commit (keep the changes)

git reset --soft HEAD~1

This undoes the commit but keeps your file changes. Useful when you committed too early or with the wrong message.

Pushing to GitHub

So far everything has been local — saved on your computer only. To back up your work and share it, push to GitHub.

Step 1: Create a GitHub repository

1. Go to github.com and sign in (create an account if needed)
2. Click the + button → New repository
3. Name it (e.g., my-project)
4. Keep it Public or Private — your choice
5. Don’t add a README, .gitignore, or license (you already have files)
6. Click Create repository

Step 2: Connect your local project to GitHub

GitHub will show you commands. Copy and run them:

git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/my-project.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Let’s break these down:

• git remote add origin — tells git where to upload (the GitHub URL)
• git branch -M main — renames your branch to “main” (the convention)
• git push -u origin main — uploads your commits to GitHub

Step 3: Future pushes

After the initial setup, pushing new work is just:

git push

One command. Your code is backed up in the cloud.

The daily workflow

Here’s the complete workflow you’ll follow for every project:

# Start of work session
git status                           # Check current state

# Make changes (AI tools, manual editing, etc.)
claude                               # or gemini, codex, etc.
> "Add a navigation bar to the site"

# Save your work
git add .
git commit -m "Add responsive navigation bar"

# Back up to GitHub
git push

Repeat this cycle as many times as you like during a session. Each commit is a save point. Each push is a backup.

Quick reference

You now know enough git for 95% of what you’ll do as an orchestrator. There’s much more to git (branches, merging, rebasing), but you can learn those when you need them — and even then, you can ask your AI tool to help you with the commands.