Connecting Your Computer with GitHub - Part Five

Source: Dev.to

Today’s post is the last one for the Connecting Your Computer with GitHub lesson. In this final challenge you’ll combine everything you’ve learned: forking, cloning, editing, committing, and pushing a repository. The default repository for the challenge is , but you may use any repository you prefer.

Challenge Overview

1. Fork a repository to your own GitHub account.
2. Clone the fork to your local machine via SSH.
3. Make a simple change to a file, then stage, commit, and push the change back to GitHub.

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Step One – Fork the Repository

1. Open the repository page (e.g., https://github.com/skillcrush/105-project).
2. Click the Fork button in the top‑right corner.
3. In the pop‑up, ensure “copy the main branch only” is checked, then click Create Fork.
   If you’re prompted to choose where the fork goes, select the option with your username.

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Step Two – Copy the SSH Clone URL

1. On your newly forked repository page, click the green Code button.
2. Switch to the Local tab and make sure the SSH option is selected.
3. Click the clipboard icon to copy the SSH address (it will look like git@github.com:your‑username/105-project.git).

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Step Three – Clone the Repository Locally

# Navigate to your home directory (or any preferred location)
cd ~
pwd   # verify you’re in the right place

# Clone using the SSH URL you copied
git clone git@github.com:your-username/105-project.git

You may be asked for your SSH passphrase; enter it and press Enter.
When the clone finishes you’ll see Receiving objects: 100%. Verify the folder exists:

ls

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Step Four – Open the Project Directory

cd 105-project   # or the name of the folder you cloned
pwd              # confirm you’re inside the project

Open the folder in your file explorer:

• Windows: explorer . or start .
• macOS: open .

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Step Five – Edit a File

1. Locate index.html (or the main HTML file for the repository).
2. Open it in your preferred text editor.
3. Make a simple change—e.g., edit a headline, tagline, or image source.
4. Save the file and refresh the browser to confirm the change appears.

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Step Six – Stage the Changes

git status               # see modified files
git add index.html       # stage the file you edited
git status               # confirm it’s staged

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Step Seven – Commit the Changes

git commit -m "Update headline in index.html"

Write a clear, concise commit message describing what you changed.

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Step Eight – Push to GitHub

git push

If prompted, enter your SSH passphrase.

After the push completes, go to the repository page on GitHub, click the Commits tab, and you’ll see your new commit listed. Clicking the commit message shows the diff of the changes you made.

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Conclusion

You have now completed the Connecting Your Computer with GitHub lesson. Your computer is linked to GitHub, and you’ve practiced forking, cloning, editing, committing, and pushing changes.

The next lesson in Skillcrush 105 is The Branding Workflow, which introduces branches and the Git commands needed to create and manage them. By the end of that lesson you’ll be able to create your first branch in a repository.