Overview
GitHub is the world's leading platform for hosting software development and version control using Git. Acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion, it serves over 100 million developers. GitHub hosts a vast majority of the world's open-source projects, offering code review, project management, and automated workflow integrations.
Core Features
Git Repository Hosting
Safely store code in the cloud with full version history tracking
Pull Request & Review
Discuss code, review diffs, and merge branches with team review tools
GitHub Actions CI/CD
Build, test, and deploy code directly within repository actions
Open Source Communities
Explore, star, and fork millions of active open-source software libraries
Vulnerability Scanning
Scans repository dependencies for security flaws and updates
GitHub Copilot
AI-driven peer programmer recommending code snippets in your IDE
How to Use
Create Account
Sign up at github.com using a username and personal email.
New Repository
Click the '+' menu, select 'New repository', set it to public or private.
Push Code
Initialize Git locally, stage files, commit, and push to GitHub remote server.
Create PR
To suggest changes to a codebase, open a branch, push edits, and start a PR.
Founding Story
GitHub was launched in April 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, and PJ Hyett as a web portal for hosting Git repositories. It became the dominant hosting provider, beating competitors like SourceForge. Microsoft acquired GitHub in June 2018 for $7.5 billion. Microsoft maintained its neutral operations while lowering pricing and introducing free private repositories. In 2021, GitHub partnered with OpenAI to launch Copilot, spearheading the modern AI software development movement.