GitHub Setup and Installation

Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites & System Setup
2. Git Installation
3. GitHub Account Setup
4. GitHub CLI Installation & Authentication

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Prerequisites & System Setup

System Requirements

• macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later
• Administrator access to install software
• Internet connection
• Terminal application (built into macOS)

Recommended Tools

• Text Editor: VS Code, Sublime Text, or vim
• Terminal: iTerm2 or built-in Terminal app
• Git GUI (optional): SourceTree, GitHub Desktop, or GitKraken

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Git Installation

Method 1: Install via Homebrew (Recommended)

# Install Homebrew if not already installed
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Git
brew install git

# Verify installation
git --version

Method 2: Install via Xcode Command Line Tools

# This will prompt to install Xcode Command Line Tools
git --version

# Follow the prompts to complete installation

Method 3: Download from Git Website

1. Visit https://git-scm.com/download/mac
2. Download the installer
3. Run the installer package
4. Verify: git --version

Initial Git Configuration

# Set your name (visible in commits)
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

# Set your email (should match GitHub account)
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

# Set default branch name to 'main'
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# Set default editor (optional)
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"  # For VS Code
# git config --global core.editor "vim"        # For vim
# git config --global core.editor "nano"       # For nano

# Enable color output
git config --global color.ui auto

# View all settings
git config --list

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GitHub Account Setup

Step 1: Create a GitHub Account

1. Visit https://github.com
2. Click “Sign up” in the top right
3. Enter your details:
   • Username: Choose wisely - this is permanent and public
   • Email: Use a professional email address
   • Password: Use a strong, unique password
4. Verify your email address
5. Complete the profile setup

Step 2: Configure Account Security

1. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA):
   • Go to Settings → Security
   • Click “Enable two-factor authentication”
   • Use an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy)
   • Save backup codes securely
2. Add SSH Key (recommended for secure authentication):

# Generate SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"

# Press Enter for default location
# Set a passphrase (recommended)

# Start SSH agent
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

# Add SSH key to agent
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# Copy public key to clipboard
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

3. Add SSH Key to GitHub:
   • Go to Settings → SSH and GPG keys
   • Click “New SSH key”
   • Paste your key and give it a descriptive title
   • Click “Add SSH key”
4. Test SSH connection:

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

Step 3: Set Up Personal Access Token (Alternative to SSH)

1. Go to Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
2. Click “Generate new token”
3. Set expiration and select scopes (at minimum: repo, workflow)
4. Copy the token immediately (you won’t see it again)
5. Use this token as your password when prompted by Git

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GitHub CLI Installation & Authentication

Installing GitHub CLI (gh)

# Install via Homebrew
brew install gh

# Verify installation
gh --version

Authenticating with GitHub CLI

# Start authentication process
gh auth login

# Follow the prompts:
# 1. Choose GitHub.com
# 2. Choose HTTPS or SSH (SSH recommended if you've set it up)
# 3. Authenticate via web browser or paste authentication token
# 4. Choose default git protocol (ssh recommended)

# Verify authentication
gh auth status

Configure GitHub CLI

# Set default editor
gh config set editor "code --wait"  # For VS Code

# Set default browser
gh config set browser safari

# View current configuration
gh config list