add, commit & status

Stage and commit

Stage specific files (or . for everything), then commit with a message describing the change.

git add index.html style.css
git commit -m "Add landing page markup and styles"

Check what's changed

git status is your dashboard — run it constantly to see staged, unstaged, and untracked files.

git status

Output:

On branch main
Changes to be committed:
  new file:   index.html
Untracked files:
  notes.txt

Good commit messages

Write it in the imperative mood — "Add feature", not "Added feature" — and keep the first line under ~50 characters.