Git From Scratch -- Zero to Hero

A hands-on Git course with 17 modules -- short lessons followed by labs where you actually practice on real repos. The labs are designed to be guided by Claude Code: type /lab in your terminal and it walks you through each exercise, explains commands before you run them, and helps you fix things when you mess up.

You don't need Claude Code to use this -- every lab is a self-contained markdown file you can follow on your own. But the guided mode is the main way I use it and where the course works best.

Free, open source, just clone and go.

Why this exists

I was using Git daily but didn't actually understand what I was doing. I kept Googling the same things and copy-pasting commands. So I built this to force myself to learn it properly.

The Claude Code integration happened because the biggest pain point when learning Git is screwing up a command and ending up in some weird state with no idea how to get out. Claude can see your terminal output and walk you through fixing it, which removes a lot of the guesswork. You can also ask questions mid-exercise and get answers that reference the actual repo you're working in, not generic explanations.

Prerequisites

Tool	Check	Install guide
Git	git --version	git-scm.com/downloads
Bash terminal	bash --version	See terminal setup below
GitHub account	--	github.com/signup
GitHub CLI	gh --version	cli.github.com
Claude Code	claude --version	claude.ai/claude-code -- the guided lab experience

GitHub connection

Several labs (05, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16) create temporary repositories on GitHub to practice pull requests, issues, actions, and other platform features. These labs require:

1. A GitHub account -- sign up here if you don't have one
2. The GitHub CLI (gh) installed -- cli.github.com
3. The CLI authenticated to your account -- run gh auth login and follow the prompts
4. The delete_repo scope on your token (needed to clean up practice repos) -- run gh auth refresh -h github.com -s delete_repo

You can verify your connection with:

gh auth status

No GitHub account? Modules 01-04, 06-10, 15, and 17 work entirely offline with local Git -- no account needed. You can complete those first and set up GitHub when you're ready.

Terminal setup

The setup scripts and lab exercises use bash. This works out of the box on macOS and Linux. Windows users need one of the following:

• Git Bash (recommended) -- included when you install Git for Windows. Open "Git Bash" from the Start menu.
• WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) -- run wsl --install in PowerShell, then open the Ubuntu terminal. Microsoft WSL guide.
• VS Code terminal -- if you have Git for Windows installed, configure VS Code to use Git Bash as the default terminal.

Note: PowerShell and cmd.exe are not supported. The setup scripts use bash syntax (heredocs, /tmp/ paths, set -euo pipefail) that requires a bash-compatible shell.

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/NormlT/git-from-scratch.git
cd git-from-scratch

2. Create your progress tracker

cp progress.template.md progress.md

This file tracks which modules you have completed. It is listed in .gitignore so it stays local to your machine.

3. Start learning

Pick one of the two paths below and jump into Module 01.

How to Use This Course

With Claude Code

1. Open a terminal in the repo directory and run claude
2. Type /lab to start a guided walkthrough of your next module
3. Claude walks you through exercises step by step and marks modules complete when you're done
4. Jump to a specific module anytime: /lab 04
5. Reset the current lab: /redo -- removes the lab directory and marks the module incomplete so you can start it fresh
6. Reset the entire course: /redo course -- clears all progress and lab directories (asks for confirmation first)

Without Claude Code

Each lab is fully self-contained -- you don't need Claude to follow along:

1. Read the lesson -- open curriculum/<part>/<module>/lesson.md for the concept explanation and video links
2. Run the setup -- bash curriculum/<part>/<module>/setup.sh creates a practice repo in /tmp/
3. Follow the exercises -- open lab.md in the same folder and work through the numbered steps
4. Check your work -- each lab has a "Verify" section telling you how to confirm success
5. Track progress -- check off completed modules in progress.md

Example for Module 01:

bash curriculum/part-1-foundations/01-what-is-git/setup.sh
# then open curriculum/part-1-foundations/01-what-is-git/lab.md and follow along

Curriculum

Modules marked GitHub require a GitHub account and the gh CLI. All other modules work entirely offline with local Git.

Part 1: Foundations

#	Module	What You Learn
01	What is Git?	Mental model of version control, repos, commits
02	Setup & Config	Install, configure identity, SSH keys
03	The Basics	init, add, commit, status, log, diff

Part 2: Branching & Collaboration

#	Module	What You Learn
04	Branches	Create, switch, delete branches; understand HEAD
05	PR Workflow	Fork, clone, branch, push, open PR, review, merge	GitHub
06	Merging & Conflicts	Fast-forward vs 3-way merge, resolving conflicts
07	Rebasing	Rebase vs merge, interactive rebase, when to use each
08	Stashing	Save work-in-progress, apply later, manage stash stack

Part 3: Recovery & History

#	Module	What You Learn
09	Undoing Mistakes	reset, revert, checkout, restore, clean
10	Cherry-pick & History	Cherry-pick commits, bisect, log filtering
11	Tags & Releases	Lightweight vs annotated tags, GitHub releases	GitHub

Part 4: GitHub Platform

#	Module	What You Learn
12	Issues & Projects	Issue tracking, labels, milestones, project boards	GitHub
13	GitHub Actions	CI/CD basics, workflow files, common actions	GitHub
14	Branch Protection	Rules, required reviews, status checks	GitHub

Part 5: Security

#	Module	What You Learn
15	Securing Your Account	2FA, SSH keys, PATs, session management
16	Repository Security	Dependabot, secret scanning, security policies	GitHub
17	Public Repo Best Practices	.gitignore, secrets hygiene, LICENSE, CODEOWNERS

Philosophy

• Short explanations, then practice -- you learn Git by doing, not reading
• Real scenarios -- labs simulate actual situations you will encounter at work
• Safe to experiment -- everything runs in temporary directories, your real repos are untouched
• Progressive -- each module builds on the previous ones

Built With

This course was built with Claude Code -- both as a development tool for writing the curriculum and as the interactive lab instructor that guides you through it.

Contributing

Found a typo, broken link, or have an idea for a new module? Open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.