Git & GitHub Cheat Sheet for MUSOD Informatics

Purpose:
A quick guide for the standard workflow: creating a feature branch, developing, and submitting a Pull Request for review.

A Note on Branch Naming:
Historically, the primary branch in Git repositories was often named master.
The community has transitioned to using main as the default branch name.
Some older repositories may still reference master, but new work should use main.

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1. Start a New Feature/Bugfix (Branch Creation & Checkout)

Always start your work on a new branch based on the latest main branch.

Switch to main (if not already there)

git checkout main

Get the latest changes from GitHub

git pull origin main

Create and switch to your new dev branch

git checkout -b your-feature-name

Naming Convention

Use a clear branch name such as:

user-login
bugfix/admin-dashboard
feature/report-export

-b means create the branch and switch to it immediately.

(You are now on your new feature branch and ready to code.)

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2. Develop & Commit Your Changes

Work on your feature and commit changes frequently and logically.

Make code changes

Edit your code using your IDE (PyCharm, VS Code, etc.).

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Stage your changes

Stage all modified files

git add .

Stage specific files

git add filename.py

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Commit your changes

git commit -m "Describe the change you made"

Example:

git commit -m "Add validation for login form"

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3. Push Your Branch to GitHub

Push your new branch to the remote repository.

git push -u origin your-feature-name

The -u flag links your local branch to the remote branch so future pushes can be done with:

git push

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4. Create a Pull Request (PR)

1. Go to the repository on GitHub
2. You will usually see a prompt to Create Pull Request
3. Click Compare & Pull Request

Provide:

• A clear title
• A brief description of the change
• Any testing notes

Then submit the PR for review.

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5. Update Your Branch (If main Changes)

If other developers push updates to main, update your branch.

Switch to main

git checkout main

Pull latest changes

git pull origin main

Return to your branch

git checkout your-feature-name

Merge updates from main

git merge main

Resolve any conflicts if they appear, then commit the merge.

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6. After Your PR is Merged

Once your Pull Request is merged:

Switch to main

git checkout main

Pull latest updates

git pull origin main

Delete your local branch

git branch -d your-feature-name

Delete the remote branch

git push origin --delete your-feature-name

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Summary Workflow

Typical development cycle:

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b feature-name

# work and commit
git add .
git commit -m "message"

git push -u origin feature-name

Then create a Pull Request on GitHub.