GitHub Setup: Preparing the Environment

git is installed by default on macOS and Linux.

You can also optionally install the GitHub CLI for easy access to GitHub-related commands from your terminal.

GitHub CLI

On macOS you can install the GitHub CLI with homebrew:

brew install gh

For other platforms, see the github cli installation instructions.

Log in

Log in to GitHub via the CLI and follow the prompts:

gh auth login

Configure git

On any machine where you use git (e.g. your laptop, biowulf, frce, etc.), you will need to configure your name and email address.

sh

git config --global user.name "Firstname Lastname"
git config --global user.email YOUR_EMAIL@example.com

Make sure you replace YOUR_EMAIL@example.com with the primary email associated with your GitHub account. For CCBR members, this should be your NIH email i.e. firstname.lastname@nih.gov.

Authenticating git with GitHub

It is possible to use a personal access token (PAT) to authenticate with GitHub, but we now recommend using SSH Keys instead. View the instructions on setting up SSH keys and follow all of the steps before proceeding.