Help with first time using GitHub

[JJITesting]

Hi Anyone,
I have installed everything (Visual Code, Git Hub etc) and have written my first automation scripts in typescript. I have then committed to my GitHub repository. But my question is, how would it be possible for me to do a full day of scripting on my desktop with VS Code, and then at the end of the day just push all my changes at once to Git Hub. Or do I need to be doing something different. I did make some changes after my first commit but after doing it again the changes were not saved to Git Hub.

[Manzi-Elvis]

Hey!

So here’s the deal. What you’re asking is normal. You don’t have to push every little change while you’re coding. Git works in steps:

1. Code all day locally: Just work in VS Code, change stuff, whatever. Git is watching, but nothing goes to GitHub until you tell it to.

2. See what changed: Run git status in your terminal. It’ll show you what files got touched since your last commit.

3. Stage your stuff: git add . grabs all the changes (or git add if you only want some). This is like telling Git, “Hey, include these in my next snapshot.”

4. Commit it: git commit -m "Wrote some scripts today" saves everything staged, but still locally. GitHub doesn’t know yet.

5. Push it to github: git push finally sends all your commits up there.

[JJITesting]

So I just type (git push) and this effectively overwrites the changes?

[Manzi-Elvis]

Not exactly! git push doesn’t overwrite things by default.

When you push, Git just sends your new commits to GitHub and adds them on top of what’s already there — as long as no one else has changed that branch.

If someone else pushed before you, Git will stop you and ask you to pull first, to prevent overwriting their work.

So yeah, git push basically updates GitHub with your local changes, it doesn’t delete or replace anything unless you force it:

git push --force

That one actually overwrites history, so only use it if you know what you’re doing.

• git push → adds your commits on top.
• git push --force → overwrites everything (use carefully).

[CyberSphinxxx]

Did you run git add ., git commit -m, and git push after making your changes? Also, have you configured your Git username and email before using GitHub? (You can verify this by running git config --list in your terminal.) you will be able to see user.email and user.name there to confirm that you’re logged in and using the correct account.

[JJITesting]

Hi thanks for the reply, yes I ran those commands with (git commit -am "initial commit") yesterday. I also ran the user.email and user.name in my computer terminal.

[CyberSphinxxx]

You need to stage your files first by running git add ., which adds all new and modified files to the staging area.
After that, attach a commit message using git commit -m "your message", and then run git push to upload your changes to the GitHub repository.

If you’ve done all of that, your updates should appear correctly.

Just make sure you’re working inside the cloned repository or an initialized GitHub repo before running these commands.

[cooxeo]

you probably have to run "git add ." to add all the file you made changes and commit it after that type "git log --oneline" to see all the latest commit you made and then probably check the remote origin is correct and try "git push" and if you want your old changes you can run "git restore".

[masonearl]

Great question! Here's the Git workflow you need:

Working All Day, Push at End

# 1. Work on your code all day in VS Code

# 2. At end of day, stage ALL your changes
git add .

# 3. Commit with a message describing what you did
git commit -m "Added new automation scripts"

# 4. Push to GitHub
git push

Why Your Second Changes Didn't Show

You probably did git commit but forgot to git push. The commit only saves changes LOCALLY - you need git push to upload them to GitHub.

Quick Reference

Command	What it does
git add .	Stage all changed files
git commit -m "message"	Save staged changes locally
git push	Upload commits to GitHub
git status	See what's changed

Pro Tip: Use an AI-Powered IDE

If you're new to Git, try Cursor - it's VS Code with built-in AI. You can literally ask it "how do I push my changes to GitHub?" and it'll show you the commands for your specific situation.

Good luck with your automation scripts!