GitHub Foundations study guide
GitHub Foundations · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The GitHub Foundations credential is the entry point in GitHub's certification lineup, reached from the Certifications link under the Developers / Learn section of github.com. It is aimed at people who already work with repositories - developers, students, DevOps and project staff - and who want external validation that they understand how GitHub's platform fits together: repository hosting, code review and collaboration as the core, with Actions for CI/CD automation, Code Quality, Code Security and Secret Protection, Codespaces cloud development environments, and Copilot for AI-assisted work forming the surrounding surface. The GitHub Foundations study guide has 5 sections and about 1,658 words.
01Introduction to Git and GitHub
Git is a distributed version control system : every clone contains the full history, so commits, branches, and diffs work offline. GitHub is a hosting and collaboration platform built around Git - it adds issues, pull requests, Actions, permissions, and a web UI.
354 words, about 2 min02Working with GitHub Repositories
A repository can be created from scratch, from a template repository , or by forking an existing project. When creating one you choose visibility (public or private), optionally add a README, a .gitignore template, and a license.
350 words, about 2 min03Collaboration Features
An issue tracks a bug, task, or idea and carries assignees, labels, milestones, and comments. A pull request (PR) proposes merging changes from one branch into another and is the centre of code review: reviewers can Comment , Approve , or Request changes .
325 words, about 2 min04Modern Development Practices
A workflow is a YAML file stored in .github/workflows/ . It declares an on: trigger (such as push , pull request , schedule , or workflow dispatch ), one or more jobs , and steps inside each job.
315 words, about 2 min05Project Management
Issues are the unit of work. Labels categorize (bug, enhancement), assignees own (up to ten people per issue), milestones group issues toward a due date, and task lists inside an issue body break work into checkboxes.
314 words, about 2 min