GitHub

GitHub is a big place for code.

People use it to store and share their work. It helps many people build things together.

It uses a tool called Git. This tool keeps track of changes. It shows how work changes over time.

Many people use GitHub. It has over 100 million users. There are also many projects there.

Microsoft owns GitHub now. They bought it in 2018. GitHub is based in a city called San Francisco.

The site has a fun mascot. It is a cat with octopus arms. Its name is Octocat.

GitHub is a big platform for people who write code.

It helps them make, store, and share their work. It uses a tool called Git. Git is a way to track changes. This is called version control. It lets people see how code changes over time.

Many people use GitHub to work on projects. These projects are often open source. This means the code is open for anyone to see. GitHub has over 100 million developers. It also has more than 420 million repositories. A repository is a place where code is kept.

In 2024, people made over five billion contributions to open source projects.

GitHub was started in 2007. Four people helped build it. It launched in April 2008. Microsoft bought GitHub in 2018. It is based in San Francisco. The site has a fun mascot. It is an octopus-cat named Octocat.

This image shows how many people from different companies help with open source work.

GitHub is a massive platform for people who write computer code.

It helps developers create, store, and share their work with others. The site uses a tool called Git to provide distributed version control. This means it keeps a history of every change made to a project. Developers can also use GitHub to track bugs or ask for new features. It is the largest host for source code in the entire world. This makes it a vital tool for modern technology development.

Working on GitHub involves a specific way of managing files.

When a person wants to change code, they can make a "pull request." This is a way to propose new changes to the original work. Other people can then look at the code to see the difference between the old and new versions. If they like the changes, they can approve them. This act of saving a change is called "committing." By keeping a history of every commit, the platform ensures no work is ever truly lost.

The story of GitHub began in October 2007. Four people named Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, P. J. Hyett, and Scott Chacon built the platform. They launched the site in April 2008 after a short test period. In the early years, the company was a small start-up. It grew very quickly as more people joined. By 2010, the site was already hosting one million different repositories. This growth showed how much developers needed a place to work together.

GitHub has reached incredible numbers over the years.

It currently has over 100 million developers using its services. There are more than 420 million repositories stored on the site. In 2024 alone, people made over five billion contributions to open source projects. Microsoft bought the company in 2018 for $7.5 billion. Since then, the platform has continued to expand globally. It even opened an office in Japan in 2015 to reach more people.

Many things you use every day might rely on GitHub. Much of the software that runs our world is "open source." This means the code is public for anyone to study or improve. GitHub is the main home for these large community projects. Even Microsoft uses GitHub to host tools like Windows Calculator and PowerShell. The platform also has a friendly mascot named Octocat.

Octocat is a cute character that looks like a mix between an octopus and a cat.

GitHub is a proprietary developer platform used to create, store, manage, and share computer code.

It serves as the world's largest host for source code, acting as a central hub for software development. The platform provides essential tools like access control, bug tracking, and task management. It also offers wikis for projects and continuous integration services. By hosting these tools, GitHub allows developers to collaborate on complex software projects from anywhere in the world.

At the core of GitHub is a system called Git.

Git is a tool for distributed version control, which was written by Linus Torvalds. This system allows developers to track every change made to a file. When a developer wants to propose a change, they use a pull request. This process allows others to review the code and see a "diff," or a comparison between the old and new versions. Once the changes are approved, they are saved through an action called "committing." Every commit is recorded in a history that can be viewed later.

GitHub offers several different ways to manage and view code. Users can interact with the platform using a standard command-line interface or through various desktop clients and plugins. The site also includes social networking features like feeds, followers, and a social network graph. This graph helps developers visualize how different people are working on "forks," which are copies of a repository. For documentation, GitHub uses README files and wikis. Some repositories even consist entirely of wiki content, such as "awesome lists" which are curated software recommendations.

The history of GitHub began with the development of the platform in October 2007. It was launched in April 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, P. J. Hyett, and Scott Chacon. The platform was built using Ruby on Rails. Originally, the company operated as a flat organization without middle managers. This meant employees could choose projects based on their own interests through open allocation. However, the company added middle management in 2014 following leadership changes and allegations of harassment involving a co-founder.

GitHub has experienced massive growth since its early years. In 2009, the site had 135,000 repositories and about 100,000 users. By 2010, it reached one million repositories, and this number doubled the following year. By 2013, the platform passed three million users and ten million repositories by the end of that year. In June 2025, the number of repositories on the site surpassed one billion. Notably, the billionth repository contained only a single profanity.

The scale of the platform today is immense. GitHub reported having over 100 million developers and more than 420 million repositories. This includes at least 28 million public repositories that anyone can view. In 2024, more than five billion developer contributions were made to over 500 million open source projects.

The company's financial value has also grown significantly. In 2012, it was valued at $750 million, but by 2015, venture capital investments brought its valuation to approximately $2 billion.

Microsoft acquired GitHub on October 26, 2018, for $7.5 billion. This acquisition was part of a business strategy to focus on cloud computing and open-source software. While some developers expressed concern about Microsoft's ownership, the company has continued to operate independently. Microsoft itself is a major user of the platform, hosting tools like Windows Calculator, PowerShell, and Visual Studio Code. GitHub also provides specialized services like GitHub Education, which offers free bundles to schools, and GitHub Enterprise for organizations.

Beyond code management, GitHub includes unique features and a recognizable identity. The platform's mascot is an "octocat" named Mona, a character with five octopus-like arms. This character was adapted from an illustration called Octopuss by designer Simon Oxley. GitHub also offers GitHub Codespaces, which provides an online integrated development environment (IDE). This allows users to work in a virtual machine to build and test their code directly in a browser. Through these various tools, GitHub remains a fundamental part of the global software ecosystem.