How to Create Your First Git Repository

In the last blog, we talked about why Git is important and how it solves project management challenges. Now, let’s take the first practical step: creating a Git repository.

Don’t worry—this series is not about using any specific programming language. We’ll work with plain English commands so you can focus only on Git itself.

Step 1: Create a Project Folder

Let’s start by creating a new folder for your project.

mkdir Project1
cd Project1

Here:

mkdir Project1 creates a directory named Project1.
cd Project1 moves inside the new folder.

This folder is just a plain directory right now. Git is not tracking it yet.

Step 2: Run `git status`

Let’s check the status:

git status

Output:

gaurav@learning-ocean:~/git-tutorials$ git status
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

You’ll see an error. Why? Because this is just a normal folder, not a Git repository yet.

Step 3: Convert the Folder into a Git Repo

To initialize Git inside this folder, run:

git init

gaurav@learning-ocean:~/git-tutorials$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/gaurav/git-tutorials/.git/
gaurav@learning-ocean:~/git-tutorials$

Once you do this:

Your folder becomes a Git repository.
Git starts tracking files here.
All Git features (version history, commits, branching, etc.) are now available.

If you check again:

git status

The output will say there are no commits yet, which is correct because we haven’t added any files.

Step 4: Behind the Scenes – The `.git` Folder

After running git init, something new is created in your project directory:

ls -a

You’ll notice a hidden folder named .git. This is where Git stores everything:

File history
Version information
Metadata

In short, .git is the database of your project’s history.

⚠️ Git recommends you never directly edit the .git folder. Use Git commands instead.

But knowing about it helps you understand what’s happening behind the scenes.

Step 5: What If You Delete `.git`?

If you remove this folder:

rm -rf .git

Your project goes back to being a normal folder. Git status will again throw an error. To make it a Git repository again, you’ll have to run git init once more.

Summary

In this lesson, we:

Created a new folder for a project
Saw why git status fails initially
Learned how git init converts a folder into a Git repository
Discovered the hidden .git folder
Understood that deleting .git removes Git tracking

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