Git Installation


For Linux

Linux users generally have it easiest, as Git is pre-installed on most Linux distributions. If it is not, refer to your distribution's package manager for information on how to install Git.


For macOS

On macOS, you must install the Xcode developer toolchain, which will install a version of Git. You can trigger this by simply trying to run git for the first time.


  1. Open the Terminal app.
  2. Type git --version. If it prints out a version number, then you already have git installed and can continue.
  3. A prompt will appear asking you to install Xcode.
    Press Install.
    Press Install.
  4. Once installation completes, restart VSCode.

For Windows

Unlike the other operating systems, Microsoft does not have an official Git installation method. Instead, most developers use Git for Windows, which is a standalone Git client that can be installed on any Windows machine.


  1. Download and install Git for Windows from the link above. Make sure to pick the Standalone Installer option, as the portable option may not integrate with others tools as easily.
  2. Skip forward in the installer until you reach the below screen. Default options are fine for all of these fields.
    Press Install.
    Press Install.
  3. Skip forward again until you are given the option to choose the default editor for Git, which you should set to VSCode.
    Set to Use Visual Studio Code.
    Set to Use Visual Studio Code.

  4. Optional: Skip forward until you can change the initial branch name. I recommend changing this to main, as master is generally considered dated and is not commonly used anymore.
    Set to 'main' as the initial branch name.
    Set to 'main' as the initial branch name.
  5. Skip forward to the end of the installer; the rest of the default options are fine.

Post-Install Setup

Once Git is installed, you still need to do a small bit of setup. Most notably, you need to set a username and email. Open your Terminal on macOS/Linux, or Git Bash on Windows (which was installed with Git), and run the following commands:

  • git config --global user.name "(your name)"
  • git config --global user.email "(your email)"