Git Basics: Save and Push Your Work to Github

[jgbourque]

What This Guide Is About

After working on your feature branch and making changes to your StoryQuest files in Godot, you need to save those changes and push them to GitHub. Then, you’ll be ready to create a pull request so your team can review and merge your work. The focus of this guide is on how to commit and push your changes.

Note

If you are interested in a more thorough introduction to Git and Git collaboration check out the "Core: Git On-Ramp" course. You can access this course by signing up on the Endless Platform and using this access code: PreviewGITOR to join the Git program.

Step-by-Step: Save and Push Your Changes

Step 1: Check What Changed and Stage the Right Files
On your computer in Git, make sure you're on your feature branch (not main). This example shows you working on a branch called intro-dialogue-updates, which is focused on changes to an intro dialogue scene.

🟢 = The commands you type in Git  🔘 = Git’s response/output

🟢 $ git status 
🔘 On branch intro-dialogue-updates 
🔘 Changes not staged for commit: 
🔘 modified: scenes/quests/story_quests/alex/alex_intro.tscn 
🔘 modified: scenes/quests/ui/test_button.tscn 
🔘 modified: README.md 
🟢 $ git add scenes/quests/story_quests/alex/alex_intro.tscn 
🔘 (no output) 

💡 If you see changes to files you didn’t mean to touch, like README.md or ui/test_button.tscn, just skip them and only add what you meant to change.

Step 2: Commit (save) your changes with a Message

🟢 = The commands you type in Git  🔘 = Git’s response/output

🟢 $ git commit -m "Add new dialogue to intro scene" 
🔘 [intro-dialogue-updates 1a2b3c4] Add new dialogue to intro scene 
🔘 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+) 

💡 This message helps your team understand what you did.

Step 3: Push to GitHub
Send your changes to your team’s GitHub project.

🟢 = The commands you type in Git  🔘 = Git’s response/output

🟢 $ git push --set-upstream origin intro-dialogue-updates 
🔘 Enumerating objects: 7, done. 
🔘 Counting objects: 100% (7/7), done. 
🔘 Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 892 bytes, done. 
🔘 To https://github.com/Game-Lab-4-0-UTP-Group-9-Team-06/threadbare-game.git
🔘 * [new branch] intro-dialogue-updates -> intro-dialogue-updates 

💡 You only need --set-upstream the first time you push a new branch. After that, just use git push.

Final Tips
✅ Always check that you’re pushing the right file and branch
✅ Your output might look a little different. That's okay!

Ok, now you're now ready to create a pull request on GitHub!
→ Go to the Git Basics: Submit a Pull Request to a Forked Repository guide to finish the process.