GitHub vs Git

Git is version control software that runs on your computer. GitHub is a cloud platform built on top of Git that adds collaboration features: pull requests, code review, issues, CI/CD, and project management. They are separate things.

01.Git: The Version Control Tool

Git is free, open-source software you install locally. It works completely offline. It has no graphical interface by default — it is a command-line tool. It is maintained by the Linux Foundation and Linus Torvalds. You can use Git with any hosting platform or with no platform at all.

Distributed Architecture

💻

Your Local

push / pull

☁️

GitHub (Remote)

push / pull

💻

Teammate's Local

02.GitHub: The Collaboration Platform

GitHub is owned by Microsoft and hosted in the cloud at github.com. It adds on top of Git: a beautiful web UI for browsing code and history, pull requests for structured code review, Issues for bug and feature tracking, GitHub Actions for CI/CD automation, GitHub Pages for free static hosting, Discussions, Projects boards, and more.

Commit Timeline

a1b2c3d

init

b2c3d4e

feat

c3d4e5f

fix

d4e5f6a

HEAD

Commands

commands — click to reveal output

git --version

Git is a local CLI tool — no internet needed

# GitHub features are at github.com

Web browser — no CLI required for basic use

gh repo create my-project --public

GitHub CLI (gh) — create repos from terminal

▼ show output

gh pr create --title "Add login" --body "Closes #12"

Create a pull request from the command line

KNOWLEDGE CHECK

What is the key distinction between Git and GitHub?

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