Tutorialby

Your project
on GitHub.

No terminal, five minutes.

GitHub is the online vault where a copy of your code lives. GitHub Desktop is the app that sends it there for you, no terminal needed. Count five minutes the first time.

Publishing a project on GitHub with GitHub Desktop, from the first screen to a private repository online.

Six steps.

01
Open GitHub Desktop's settings and check that you are signed in to your GitHub account.
02
On the home screen, choose Create, even though your project already exists: this button does not make a project, it asks GitHub to start tracking yours.
03
Give a lowercase name with dashes, then pick the folder that contains your project. The line shown under the field must end with your folder's name, nothing more. Leave the README box unchecked.
04
Set the .gitignore menu, the list of what never goes online: None if your project already has its .gitignore file, Node otherwise.
05
Click Create Repository. Your files appear in the list, ready to go, but nothing is online yet.
06
Click Publish and keep the box checked: your code goes online, visible to you alone.

Word for word.

What the video says, to read at your own pace or find one word again.

Read the full transcript

This is GitHub Desktop, the app that puts your project online without a single line of code. First reflex, before anything else: check here, in the settings, that you are signed in to your GitHub account.

Three choices on this screen, and the right one is not obvious. It really is Create, even though your project already exists. This button does not create a project: it tells GitHub to start tracking yours.

The form, calmly. The name: lowercase, with dashes. The path: careful, it is the folder that contains your project, not the project itself. Check the small line at the bottom: it must end with your folder's name, nothing after it. And no README, we already have one.

This menu deserves a pause. The .gitignore is the list of what never goes online. Your passwords and keys live in a file inside your project: without this list, they get uploaded with everything else. Good news: if your project comes from Lovable, Bolt or a similar tool, the list already exists. Let's check the folder. On Windows, the .gitignore file is visible right away. On a Mac, it is hidden: Command Shift period reveals it, like here. There it is. It exists, so in the menu we keep None, to keep yours. No such file in your project? Pick Node, it covers the essentials.

Create Repository. GitHub Desktop has prepared your first upload: every file of the project is in the list, ready to go.

Let's check on github.com. Refresh the page, and nothing. Your project is not online, and that is normal: importing it into GitHub Desktop is not enough, one gesture remains.

That gesture is Publish. Keep the box checked: your code stays private, online but visible to you alone.

Back on github.com, refresh: your repository is there. Your project is online, ready for the audit. All that remains is granting us read access. That is the next video, thirty seconds.