A Beginner’s Guide to Uploading Your Project to GitHub Using SSH

A. Introduction

GitHub is a popular platform for hosting and managing Git repositories, allowing developers to collaborate and version control their projects effectively. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps of creating a new repository on GitHub, initializing a local Git repository on your server, and uploading your project using SSH.

B. Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• A GitHub account (create one at github.com if you haven’t).
• Git installed on your server (install using sudo apt-get install git for Debian/Ubuntu systems).

Step 1: Set Up SSH Key and Add to GitHub

1. Generate a new SSH key using the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

2. Press Enter to accept the default file location (~/.ssh/id_rsa) and optionally, enter a passphrase for added security.

3. Copy the SSH key to your clipboard:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | clip

This command copies the SSH key directly to your clipboard on Windows. On macOS or Linux, you can use pbcopy instead of clip.

4. Log in to your GitHub account, go to Settings > SSH and GPG keys, and click New SSH key.

5. In the “Title” field, add a descriptive label for your SSH key.

6. Paste the copied SSH key into the “Key” field. and Click Add SSH key.

Step 2: Creating a New Repository on GitHub

1. Login to Github
2. Create a New Repository

Step 3: Setting Up on Your Server

1. Clone the newly created GitHub repository to your server

git clone git@github.com:username/repo.git /path/to/your/app

2. Initialize a Local Git Repository

cd /path/to/your/code
git init

3. Configure Git on the Server and Set global username and email for Git

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your_email@example.com"

Step 4: Uploading Your Project to GitHub

1. Add all the files you want to upload to the Git repository:

git add .

2. Commit the changes with a descriptive message:

git commit -m "Initial commit"   # Customize the message as per your changes

3. Add the GitHub repository as the remote target for your local repository:

git remote add origin git@github.com:username/your_repository.git

4. Push Your Changes to GitHub. Upload your committed changes to GitHub

git push -u origin master

This command pushes all committed changes from the master branch (or your default branch) to your GitHub repository.

5. Feel free to check out your repository — all the code has been successfully uploaded!

C. Conclusion

By following these steps, you’ve successfully created a new repository on GitHub, initialized a local Git repository on your server, and uploaded your project using SSH. GitHub provides powerful tools for version control and collaboration, essential for managing and sharing your code projects effectively.

D. Additional Resources

• GitHub Guides — Official GitHub guides and tutorials.
• Git Documentation — Comprehensive documentation for Git commands and workflows.

Now, you’re ready to leverage GitHub’s capabilities to manage your projects and collaborate with others seamlessly. Happy coding!