The three most-used Git commands form your daily workflow: git status shows what has changed, git add stages changes for the next commit, and git commit saves a snapshot of the staged changes with a message.
Git
Beginner
9 min read
git status, add, and commit
Example
# Check the state of your working directory:
git status
# Shows: untracked files, modified files, staged changes
# Stage specific files:
git add index.html
git add src/app.js src/utils.js
# Stage all changes in the current directory:
git add .
# Commit staged changes with a message:
git commit -m "Add homepage layout"
# Stage and commit tracked files in one step (skips git add):
git commit -am "Fix typo in header"
# Write a multi-line commit message (opens your editor):
git commit
# Anatomy of a good commit message:
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# feat: add user authentication endpoint <- subject (≤72 chars)
# <- blank line
# Implement JWT-based login route that <- body (explains WHY)
# validates credentials against bcrypt
# hashes stored in the database.
# ─────────────────────────────────────────
# View commit history:
git log
git log --oneline # compact format
git log --oneline --graph # with branch graph