My First GitHub Project: From a Local Folder to GitHub Using Git and SSH

Nyambura Thuita — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 22:15:01 +0000

INTRODUCTION

This a step by step tutorial on how to push a project from a local folder to GitHub using Git and SSH.

Prerequisites

GitHub Account to host the repository
GitBash:
-Used this as my terminal.
-It comes bundled with Git on Windows.
-To confirm installation ran: git --version

A file(s) in the local folder

Verify Git configuration

First, I verified that the username and email configured for Git are accurate. The commands: git config --global user.name - this displays the configured Git username git config --global user.email - this displays the configured email.

-This shows the correct username and email.

Generate SSH key

To generate the SSH key ran the following command:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "my email"

The SSH key is saved to a specific file location such as drive C on the laptop. Why use SSH key? SSH is a secure way of authenticating my computer with my GitHub account. Rather than entering my GitHub credentials every time I push files from a local repo to a remote repo, Git uses the SSH key to verify my GitHub account.

Copy the public key

The command:
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Add the SSH key to GitHub

Add Title, Key type(Authentication key) and Paste the entire SSH key, Click Add SSH key.

Test SSH key Connection

On Git Bash ran:
ssh -T git@github.com

-This shows the SSH key is successfully authenticated.

Create the Project Folder

cd Desktop Navigate to desktop as this is where i would like to save my project folder.

mkdir "Kenyan Health Records Analysis"

Create the project folder on desktop. This is the folder in which the dataset will be uploaded.

Create the README file and data folder

cd Kenyan Health Records Analysis- navigate into the project folder. To ensure the README file, data folder and dataset are uploaded into the folder.
touch README.md- create a README file
mkdir data- create this folder within the Kenyan Health Records Analysis folder

-This shows that README.md file and data folder have been created and added successfully into the project folder "Kenyan Health Records Analysis"

Add the CSV file into the data folder

Copy the csv file into the data folder.

This shows that the dataset is inside the data folder

Edit the README file

nano README.md - This command opens the README.md file in the Nano text editor where a user can add or edit its contents. Also, if the file did not exist, it will be created when saved.

This shows the nano text editor
To save and exit the text editor:
Ctrl+O
Press Enter
Ctrl+X

Initialize Git

git init- initialize a Git repository

Check file status

git status- shows the current status of the files

This shows that the current README.md file and data folder are untracked.
Untracked files means that their changes are not being tracked yet.

Stage the files

git add .- stage all files/ changes for the next commit
git status- this shows the README.md file and data folder This shows that the files are staged and ready to be committed.

Commit the files

git commit -m "First commit on health records" - commits all files created to the repo.

-This shows the files have been successfully committed.

Ensure the branch is main
git branch -M main- switch to branch main

This confirms the branch is main

Create the repo on GitHub

Login into GitHub
Click on Profile icon- Repositories- new Repository
Then:
Choose Owner
Add the Repository name
Add a short description of the project
For the configuration settings choose Public/Private and don't click on add README file
Click Create Repository

This shows the General and configuration settings for the creation of a new GitHub repository.

Copy the SSH link

On the page of the new repo copy the SSH link
On GitBash ran:

git remote add origin "git@github.com:Thuita24/Kenyan-Health-Records-Analysis.git"- This commands connects the local repo to the repo on GitHub
git remote -v- This confirms that the connection was successful. This shows that the local repo has been successfully connected to the repo on GitHub

Push the files into GitHub

git push -u origin main - pushes all files into the repo

This shows that all files have been successfully pushed to GitHub

Basically the workflow is
git init - git status - git add . - git status - git commit - git branch -M main - create GitHub repo - copy SSH Link - git remote add origin - git push

Troubleshooting

When creating the README file, I did it in the data folder instead of the project folder. To move the folder I ran the following commands:

cd ..- to navigate from the project folder from data folder (Kenyan Health Records Analysis)
mv data/README.md .

this moved the file into the project folder from the data folder.

When creating the folder Kenyan Health Records Analysis i ended up creating three different folders as I did not add quotation marks "" to the command mkdir Kenyan Health Records Analysis

This shows the three folders that were created

Corrected this by adding quotation marks to the command
mkdir "Kenyan Health Records Analysis"

This shows the correct project folder created

Challenges Faced

My biggest challenge was understanding how the command git remote worked. I did not fully understand why it was necessary yet all the files in my local repo were staged and committed. Through this project , I learnt that the local repo and GitHub repo are treated as two different repositories by Git. The command git remote add origin is what creates a link between the two repositories.

Another challenged I faced was understanding the importance of quotation marks and spaces when writing commands on GitHub. An example is when I ran mkdir Kenyan Health Records Analysis, Git Bash interpreted each word as a separate folder name instead of one. By adding quotation marks GitBash finally interpreted it as one folder name.

Conclusion

This was an interesting project where I finally understood how git commands such git init, git status, git add, git commit, git remote and git push worked rather than just memorizing them and not knowing what was happening in the background. Additionally, I was learn how create an SSH key and use it to push files to GitHub instead of using HTTPS.
In conclusion through this project I was able to gain knowledge on Git and GitHub basics using SSH authentication.

https://github.com/Thuita24/Kenyan-Health-Records-Analysis.git

DEV Community: Nyambura Thuita