The three zones

Slow down for this one. This is the lesson of the course — everything else is just commands that move files through this picture.

WORKING DIRECTORY

your desk

messy, live, right now

→↓git add

STAGING AREA

the photo studio

arrange the next shot

→↓git commit

HISTORY

the album

permanent snapshots

edit → git add → git commit — that's the whole pipeline

🔴 The desk — your working directory

The files you're editing right now. Messy, live, constantly changing. This is just your normal folder — nothing special has happened to these files yet.

🟢 The studio — the staging area

The photo studio. Before taking a photo, you arrange the shot: you place exactly the files you want into the frame. That's what git add does — it stages a file for the next snapshot.

🟡 The album — your history

Permanent snapshots, kept forever. Each snapshot is called a commit. git commit clicks the shutter and pastes the photo into the album.

“Every command today just moves files left to right: edit → git add → git commit.”

Next: Commits are snapshots →