This approach describes the sequence of safely saving (committing) your local modifications and then pulling the latest commits from the remote repository. Let’s look at what each step does:

1. Check your changes (git status)


git status

  • What it does: Shows which files in your working directory have been modified, added, or deleted but are not yet staged or committed.

  • Why it matters: You get a clear list of exactly what you’re about to stage or commit, helping avoid mistakes.

2. Stage & commit (git add . → git commit -m "message")

git add .
git commit -m "Describe your work here"

  • git add .

    • Staging: Marks all changes in the current directory for inclusion in your next commit. You can stage specific files if you prefer more control.

  • git commit -m "…"

    • Commit: Takes everything in the staging area and permanently records it as a new snapshot (commit) in your local repository, with the given message describing what you did.

Why commit first?

  • Your local changes become part of your own commit history, so when you merge or pull, Git knows exactly how to integrate or warn you about conflicts.

  • It nearly eliminates the risk of accidentally losing work.

3. Pull the latest remote changes (git pull)

git pull

  • What it does:

    1. git fetch — Downloads new commits from the remote (e.g. origin).

    2. git merge — Merges those commits into your current branch.

  • Since you’ve committed your work:

    • Git can cleanly combine your local commits with the remote commits, or flag any conflicts for you to resolve.