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Quick Git Branch & PR Guide

A concise, step-by-step guide for the most common Git workflow: creating a branch, making changes, committing, pushing, and opening a pull request (PR).

  • Create a new branch:

  • git checkout -b my-feature-branch

    • (Creates and switches to a new branch)

  • Modify a file:

  • Edit your file(s) as needed in your editor (e.g., VS Code, Cursor IDE, etc.)

  • Stage your changes:

  • git add <filename>

    • (Or use git add . to stage all changes)

  • Commit your changes:

  • git commit -m "Describe your change"

  • Push your branch to GitHub:

  • git push -u origin my-feature-branch

  • Open a Pull Request (PR):

  • Go to your repository on GitHub
  • You'll see a prompt to "Compare & pull request" for your branch—click it
  • Fill in the PR title and description, then click "Create pull request"

Tip:

You can also use the GitHub CLI (gh) to open a PR from the terminal:

  • gh pr create --fill