Git Init

The git init command creates a new Git repository. You run it one time inside a project folder, and from then Git can track the files of that folder.

Syntax

git init
git init project-name

Create a new repository

Git created a hidden folder named .git in the project. That folder is the repository. If you delete it, you delete the full history, but your normal files stay.

Initialize a repository in a new folder directly

You can give a folder name, and Git will create the folder and run init inside it.

What is inside the .git folder?

Name	Purpose
HEAD	A file which points to the current branch
config	Settings of this repository only
objects/	Where Git stores all the content (files and commits)
refs/	Branch and tag names, and the commit they point to
hooks/	Sample scripts which run on Git events

Never edit the files of .git by hand, unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Bare repository

A normal repository has the working files plus the .git folder. A bare repository has only the Git data and no working files. It is used on servers as the central place to push to, like the repository on GitHub.

Use git init on a project that already has files

If you already have a folder with files, go inside it and run git init. The files will be shown as untracked, and then you can add and commit them.

Common mistakes

• Running git init inside another repository, which creates a repository inside a repository. Check first with git status.
• Running it in the home folder by mistake, so Git starts tracking everything. Always check the folder with pwd before.

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