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Git Workflow & Setup Guide

← Back to Overview | ← Takeover Strategy

Git and GitHub CLI Installation

Here's a straightforward, up-to-date (November 2025) guide to install Git and the GitHub CLI (gh) on your system and authenticate with GitHub — everything from the terminal.

1. Install Git

macOS (best ways)

# Option 1: Homebrew (recommended if you already have brew)
brew install git

# Option 2: Xcode Command Line Tools (no brew needed)
xcode-select --install   # then Git is included

Windows (best ways)

# Option 1: Winget (built into Windows 10/11)
winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget

# Option 2: Chocolatey (if you use it)
choco install git

# Option 3: Download installer from https://git-scm.com/download/win (choose "Git Bash" included)

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian-based)

sudo apt update && sudo apt install git -y

Linux (Fedora/RHEL-based)

sudo dnf install git   # or sudo yum install git on older

Verify installation (works on all platforms):

git --version
# Should show something like git version 2.46.x or higher

2. Install GitHub CLI (gh)

macOS

brew install gh

Windows

winget install --id GitHub.cli
# or with Chocolatey
choco install gh

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

type -p curl >/dev/null || (sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl -y)
curl -fsSL https://cli.github.com/packages/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg \
&& sudo chmod go+r /usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg \
&& echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg] https://cli.github.com/packages stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/github-cli.list > /dev/null \
&& sudo apt update \
&& sudo apt install gh -y

Or the super-short way (works on most Linux/macOS):

# Homebrew or apt/dnf will already have it, or use the official one-liner:
curl -fsSL https://github.com/cli/cli/releases/download/v2.60.1/gh_2.60.1_linux_amd64.deb -o gh.deb && sudo dpkg -i gh.deb   # adjust version if needed

Verify:

gh --version
# Should show gh version 2.60.x or newer

3. Authenticate with GitHub

You only need to do this once per machine.

Option A: Authenticate gh CLI (recommended — also sets up Git credential helper automatically)

gh auth login

It will ask you a few questions:

  • GitHub.com (or GitHub Enterprise if you use that)
  • HTTPS or SSH → choose HTTPS first (easier)
  • Login with browser or token → choose Login with a web browser
  • It opens your browser, you click Authorize GitHub CLI
  • Done! You’re logged in.

Bonus: gh also configures Git to use itself as the credential helper, so normal git push/pull will just work without passwords.

Option B: Manual SSH setup (if you prefer SSH URLs)

# Generate a new SSH key (or skip if you already have one)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com"

# Start the ssh-agent and add your key
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# Copy the public key to clipboard (macOS)
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-Content ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | Set-Clipboard
# Linux
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub   # then copy manually

# Add the SSH key in GitHub: Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key → paste it

Then test:

ssh -T git@github.com
# You should see: Hi username! You've successfully authenticated...

Option C: If you only want HTTPS with personal access token (classic way)

gh auth login   # choose "Paste an authentication token"
# Or create one manually at https://github.com/settings/tokens → generate new token (classic) with repo/workflow scopes

Quick test that everything works

# Clone something
gh repo clone cli/cli

# Or create a test repo and push
mkdir test-repo && cd test-repo
git init
echo "# test" > README.md
git add .
git commit -m "first commit"
gh repo create test-repo --public --source=.
git push -u origin main

You're all set! From now on git and gh will just work with your GitHub account without asking for credentials every time.

Let me know which OS you're on if you hit any snag — happy to give the exact commands for your setup.

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