By a developer who was once just as confused as you
I still remember the first time someone told me to “just push it to GitHub.”
I had no idea what that meant. Push what? To where? I opened the website, stared at it for five minutes, and closed the tab. It felt like everyone around me already knew this secret language and nobody bothered to explain it from the beginning.
So that is exactly what this blog is. The explanation I wish I had when I was starting out. No jargon. No skipping steps. Just plain, simple English.
Let’s Start From Zero – What Even Is GitHub?
Before we talk about pushing code and deleting repositories, let us make sure we understand what GitHub actually is.
Imagine you are writing a novel. You save it on your laptop. One day your laptop dies. The novel is gone. Now imagine if you had saved a copy online somewhere — you would never lose it.
GitHub is that “somewhere online” for code.
Developers write code on their own computers and then upload it to GitHub so it is stored safely in the cloud. But GitHub is more than just storage. It also keeps a complete history of every single change you ever made. So if you wrote something that worked perfectly last Tuesday and then broke it today, you can go back to last Tuesday’s version in seconds.
The tool that tracks all these changes is called Git. Git runs on your computer. GitHub is the website where your Git projects live online. They work together, but they are two different things. A lot of beginners mix this up at first, so it is worth keeping in mind.
What is IPTV GitHub? (You Probably Searched This)
If you landed on this blog after searching “IPTV GitHub,” you are not alone. It is one of the most searched GitHub-related terms and it has nothing to do with coding for most people who look it up.
Here is the simple explanation.
IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television. It is basically a way to watch TV channels and live streams over the internet instead of through a cable or dish connection. Many people use apps like VLC or TiVimate to play these streams.
Now, some developers upload free IPTV playlist files on GitHub. These are plain text files that contain a long list of links to TV channels. Since GitHub is free and public, it became a popular place to share these files. So when someone says “IPTV GitHub,” they usually mean they are looking for one of these playlist files.
Here is something important to know though. A lot of these playlists stream channels without any legal permission. Whether that is a problem depends on where you live and what channels are in the list. Some playlists are completely legal and contain only free-to-air channels. Others are not. It is worth being careful and checking before you use any of them.
If you are a developer, GitHub also has many open-source projects where people build their own IPTV apps and tools from scratch. That is an entirely different and perfectly legal use.
How to Push Your Code to GitHub
This is the part most beginners get stuck on. Let us walk through it slowly, one step at a time.
First, What Does “Push” Mean?
When developers say “push,” they mean uploading code from their computer to GitHub. That is it. You write code locally, and then you push it up to GitHub so it lives online.
Step 1 – Create Your GitHub Account
Go to github.com and sign up. It is free. Once your account is ready, you are good to move forward.
Step 2 – Create a New Repository
A repository is just a project folder on GitHub. Think of it as a container for one specific project.
After logging in, click the green button that says “New” on your dashboard. Give your repository a name that makes sense for your project. Choose whether you want it to be public (anyone can see it) or private (only you). Then click “Create repository.”
Step 3 – Install Git on Your Computer
GitHub is the website. Git is the tool on your computer that talks to that website. You need both.
Download Git from git-scm.com and install it like any other program. Once it is installed, open your terminal (on Mac or Linux) or Command Prompt (on Windows) and type:
git –version
If you see a version number appear, Git is installed correctly.
Step 4 – Tell Git Who You Are
This is a one-time setup. Git needs to know your name and email so it can label your work properly.
git config –global user.name “Your Name”
git config –global user.email “your@email.com“
Replace the text inside the quotes with your actual name and the email you used to sign up on GitHub.
Step 5 – Open Your Project Folder in the Terminal
Navigate to the folder where your code is saved. If your project is on your Desktop in a folder called “my-project,” you would type:
cd Desktop/my-project
cd stands for “change directory.” It is how you move between folders in the terminal.
Step 6 – Initialize Git
Now tell Git to start watching this folder:
git init
This creates a hidden Git folder inside your project that tracks everything from this point forward.
Step 7 – Connect Your Folder to GitHub
Go back to the repository you created on GitHub. You will see a link that looks like this:
Copy that link and run this command:
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo-name.git
This connects your local folder to your GitHub repository. “Origin” is just a nickname for that link.
Step 8 – Stage Your Files
Before you can upload anything, you need to tell Git which files to include. This is called staging.
git add .
The dot at the end means “include everything in this folder.” You can also add specific files by typing their names instead of the dot.
Step 9 – Commit Your Files
A commit is like taking a photo of your code at this exact moment. You attach a short message to describe what changed.
git commit -m “my first commit”
Write something meaningful in the message. It helps you remember what you did when you look back later.
Step 10 – Push to GitHub
git push -u origin main
This uploads everything to GitHub. Open your browser, refresh your repository page, and your files will be right there.
From this point on, every time you make changes and want to update GitHub, you only need these three commands:
git add .
git commit -m “describe what you changed”
git push
That is the whole cycle. Write code, add, commit, push. Once you do it a few times it becomes automatic.
How to Delete a Repository on GitHub
Maybe you created a test project, or made a repository with the wrong name, or simply want to clean things up. Deleting a repository is straightforward but you need to be careful because it cannot be undone.
Here is how to do it:
Log into your GitHub account and go to “Your repositories” from the menu under your profile picture.
Click on the repository you want to delete.
Click the Settings tab at the top of the repository page. If you do not see it, make sure you are the owner of the repository.
Scroll all the way to the bottom of the Settings page. You will find a section with a red border called Danger Zone.
Click the button that says “Delete this repository.”
GitHub will ask you to type the full name of the repository to confirm you really mean it. Type it exactly as shown and click the final delete button.
The repository is now gone permanently. GitHub does not keep a trash bin for this. If there was code in it that you needed, it is gone unless you have a copy somewhere else. Always double-check before you delete.
Problems You Will Run Into (And How to Fix Them)
No GitHub tutorial is complete without talking about the errors. You will see them. Everyone does.
“Push rejected” or “failed to push”
This usually means GitHub has changes that your computer does not have yet. Run this first:
git pull origin main
This pulls the latest version from GitHub to your computer. After that, push again and it should work.
“Fatal: not a git repository”
This error means Git is not tracking the folder you are currently in. Either you forgot to run git init, or you are in the wrong folder. Double-check that you are inside the right project folder.
GitHub keeps asking for your password
GitHub stopped accepting regular passwords a while ago. You need to use something called a Personal Access Token instead. Go to your GitHub account, then Settings, then Developer Settings, then Personal Access Tokens. Generate a new token and use that as your password when Git asks. Save it somewhere safe because you cannot see it again after you close the page.
You pushed to “master” but nothing showed up
GitHub now uses “main” as the default branch name for new repositories. If your local branch is still called “master,” rename it first:
git branch -M main
Then push:
git push -u origin main
You committed something you did not mean to
If you have not pushed yet, you can undo the last commit without losing your work:
git reset –soft HEAD~1
Your files stay as they are, but the commit is removed. You can then fix what you need and commit again.
A Few Habits Worth Building Early
Write clear commit messages. Future you will thank present you. “updated stuff” tells you nothing three months later. “fixed form not submitting on mobile Safari” actually means something.
Never put passwords, secret keys, or API tokens in your code before pushing. GitHub is public by default and even if you delete the file later, the history remains searchable. Use environment variables for sensitive information instead.
Create a file called .gitignore in your project. This tells Git to ignore certain files and folders, like node_modules or any file with your secret credentials. You can find ready-made .gitignore templates for almost every type of project online.
Your GitHub profile is essentially your coding resume. The projects you push there, the commits you make, and how you write your code all tell a story to anyone who visits your profile including potential employers.
Final Thoughts
GitHub feels intimidating at the start because everyone around you seems to already know it. But the honest truth is that most developers only use about five or six Git commands on a daily basis. The rest they look up when they need it.
Start small. Create one project, push it to GitHub, and just get comfortable with the process. The commands will start to feel natural faster than you expect.
The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is right now.
