mkdir lab && cd lab git init echo "# Lab" > README.md git status git add README.md git commit -m "Add README"
git status tells you what is untracked, staged, or modified. git log --oneline lists commits. To unstage (keep the file): git restore --staged README.md on current Git; older docs say git reset HEAD FILE.
Messages
Write what changed and why, in the imperative: “Add CGPA formula comments”, not “fixed stuff”. One logical change per commit beats 40 files dumped as “update”.
Never
git add . blindly if you have passwords, node_modules, or dataset dumps. Add a .gitignore first (Node’s standard one ignores node_modules and .env).