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Learning Paths

Three hundred lessons is a lot of surface area. The problem is rarely finding a page — it is knowing which fifteen to read, in what order, for the thing you are actually trying to do.

That is what these paths are: an ordered route through material that already exists, chosen so each lesson builds on the one before it.

Start from zero

Build an accurate mental model of what Git is doing before learning commands, so its behaviour becomes predictable rather than memorised.

For
I'm completely new to Git
Assumes
None. A terminal and a text editor.
Scope
11 lessons, roughly 3–4 hours of reading plus practice.
  1. 1What Is Git? A Practical Guide to Version Control
  2. 2Git vs GitHub: What's the Difference?
  3. 3How Git Works: Working Tree, Index, HEAD and Objects
  4. 4Your First Git Repository: A Complete Hands-On Tutorial
  5. 5Git Working Tree Explained: Tracked, Untracked, Modified and Ignored Files
  6. 6Understanding the Git Index (the Staging Area)
  7. 7Understanding HEAD in Git
  8. 8Git Objects Explained: Blobs, Trees, Commits and Tags
  9. 9Git Repository Structure: What Is Inside the .git Directory
  10. 10Git Branches Explained: How Branching Really Works
  11. 11Git Merge Explained: Fast-Forward, Three-Way and Conflicts

Merging, rebasing and history

Understand what merge and rebase actually do to the commit graph, when each is correct, and how to recover when either goes wrong.

For
I know Git but struggle with merging and rebasing
Assumes
You commit and branch comfortably but avoid rebase.
Scope
12 lessons plus 2 labs, roughly 4 hours.
  1. 1Understanding HEAD in Git
  2. 2Git Branches Explained: How Branching Really Works
  3. 3Git Merge Explained: Fast-Forward, Three-Way and Conflicts
  4. 4Fast-Forward vs Three-Way Merge in Git
  5. 5Merge Commits in Git: Parents, Topology and Trade-offs
  6. 6Resolving Merge Conflicts in Git: A Practical Guide
  7. 7Git Rebase Explained: How Rewriting History Works
  8. 8Rebase vs Merge: Choosing an Integration Strategy
  9. 9Interactive Rebase in Git: Reshape Your Commit History
  10. 10How to Squash Commits in Git
  11. 11When Not to Rebase in Git
  12. 12Squash Merging in Git: What It Does to Your History

Repository administration and review

Configure repositories so that review, protection and ownership work by default rather than by convention.

For
I manage GitHub repositories
Assumes
Comfortable with pull requests as a contributor.
Scope
11 lessons, roughly 4 hours.
  1. 1Creating GitHub Repositories: A Complete Guide
  2. 2Public vs Private GitHub Repositories: What Visibility Really Means
  3. 3GitHub Pull Requests Explained: A Complete Engineering Guide
  4. 4GitHub Pull Request Reviews: Mechanics and Practice
  5. 5CODEOWNERS: Mapping Repository Paths to Owners
  6. 6GitHub Branch Protection: Rules That Guard a Branch
  7. 7GitHub Repository Rulesets: Policy as Layered Rules
  8. 8Required Reviews on GitHub: Enforcing Approval Before Merge
  9. 9GitHub Merge Queues: How They Work and When You Need One
  10. 10Pull Request Best Practices: Size, Scope and Review Velocity
  11. 11Least-Privilege GitHub Access

CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Build pipelines that are fast, secure and maintainable — and diagnose them when they fail for reasons the error does not name.

For
I build CI/CD pipelines
Assumes
You can read YAML and have used a CI system.
Scope
10 lessons plus 2 labs, roughly 5 hours.
  1. 1GitHub Actions & CI/CD
  2. 2Continuous Integration with GitHub Actions
  3. 3GitHub Actions Security: Permissions, Secrets, OIDC and Supply Chain
  4. 4Git SHA Container Images: Source Identity vs Artifact Identity
  5. 5Container Image Tags vs Git SHAs vs Digests
  6. 6Optimising CI Checkouts for Large Repositories
  7. 7Standardised CI/CD Across a Repository Fleet
  8. 8Build Provenance Explained
  9. 9Secure Software Release Pipelines
  10. 10Governing GitHub Actions Across an Enterprise

Infrastructure, GitOps and platform engineering

Use Git as the control plane for infrastructure: reviewable change, environment promotion and continuous reconciliation.

For
I'm a DevOps or platform engineer
Assumes
You work with infrastructure as code and deployment pipelines.
Scope
12 lessons plus a lab, roughly 5 hours.
  1. 1Git for DevOps & Infrastructure
  2. 2DevOps Repository Structure: A Generalised Guide
  3. 3Terraform Repository Structure: Complete Guide
  4. 4Terraform Git Workflow: Branches, PRs, Plans & Deployments
  5. 5Terraform Pull Request Validation: A Complete Guide
  6. 6Terraform Environments and Git: Directories, Workspaces or Repositories
  7. 7GitOps Explained: Git, Kubernetes & Continuous Reconciliation
  8. 8Kubernetes Environment Promotion with Git
  9. 9GitOps Drift and Reconciliation
  10. 10CODEOWNERS for Infrastructure Repositories
  11. 11Policy as Code with Git
  12. 12Platform Engineering with Git

AI-assisted engineering with discipline

Get value from Copilot and coding agents without giving up the review discipline that makes software trustworthy.

For
I use GitHub Copilot or AI coding agents
Assumes
You use or are evaluating an AI coding assistant.
Scope
11 lessons, roughly 4 hours.
  1. 1GitHub Copilot & AI Engineering
  2. 2GitHub Copilot: Complete Engineering Guide
  3. 3Repository Instructions for AI Agents
  4. 4GitHub Copilot Custom Instructions
  5. 5GitHub Copilot Code Review: Complete Guide
  6. 6AI vs Human Code Review
  7. 7Secure AI Code Review
  8. 8AI Coding Agents Explained
  9. 9Reviewing Agent Pull Requests
  10. 10AI-Assisted Git Code Reviews
  11. 11Agentic CI/CD

Git and GitHub at organisational scale

Operate governance, identity, audit and repository fleets across an organisation rather than a repository.

For
I manage GitHub at enterprise scale
Assumes
You administer an organisation or enterprise account.
Scope
12 lessons, roughly 6 hours.
  1. 1Git at Scale & Enterprise Engineering
  2. 2GitHub Enterprise Cloud: What Changes at Enterprise Scale
  3. 3Enterprise Account Architecture: Structuring Organisations
  4. 4Custom Properties: Metadata as Governance Infrastructure
  5. 5Enterprise Rulesets: Policy Across Every Repository
  6. 6Enterprise Identity and Access Management on GitHub
  7. 7SAML Single Sign-On for Enterprises
  8. 8SCIM Provisioning and Deprovisioning
  9. 9Machine Identities: Apps, Tokens and Deploy Keys at Scale
  10. 10The Enterprise Audit Log
  11. 11Rolling Out Policy Without a Revolt
  12. 12Repository Fleet Management

Read in order. The sequence is the point. Each lesson’s prerequisites assume what came before.

Do the labs where they appear. A path that includes labs places them where the concept has just been introduced and is worth exercising.

Stop when you have what you came for. A path is a route, not a syllabus. If lesson eight answers your question, that is a successful path.

The paths cover common starting points, not every one.

Modern Git Weekly

One advanced Git/GitHub technique, one practical workflow, and one security lesson every week.

Finished a path? The weekly email is three chosen items a week — a way to keep going without choosing what next.

Not open yet

Rather than collect addresses with nowhere to send them, signup is closed until delivery is set up. Everything on the site is free without it — theRSS feed carries every new lesson in the meantime.