Commits are snapshots

A commit is 📸 a snapshot of your whole project at one moment. Think phone camera, not track-changes.

✗ A COMMIT IS NOT

a saved file
just “the changes”

✓ A COMMIT IS

the entire project, frozen
with a message, forever

Why “whole project” matters

Because each commit is a full photo, you can jump to any commit and get the entire project back exactly as it was. We'll do exactly that, live, in about twenty minutes.

The message answers why

Every snapshot carries a short message. The snapshot already shows what changed — your message should answer why. More on writing good ones when we take our first commit.

Next: git init — give a folder a memory →