Version Control, 2005

Git makes sense once you can see what it actually stores. This era gives you a practice repository and walks the core loop: init, add, commit, branch, merge, and reading the history back with log.

Code and data track · 8 missions · boss mission, no written exam · free, no signup. Everything below runs in the browser terminal on the SERVBG home page.

Open Version Control in the terminal

What you will do

  1. create a new repository git init

    Linus Torvalds wrote Git in ~10 days in 2005 after the BitKeeper fallout. The name is British slang for an unpleasant person — self-deprecating.

  2. see what has changed git status

    git status is the command you run most — staged, unstaged, untracked. Your working reality at a glance.

  3. stage changes for the next commit git add .

    The staging area (the "index") is Git's quiet superpower: you choose exactly what goes into each commit.

  4. record a snapshot git commit -m "first commit"

    A commit is an immutable snapshot plus a hash. History is a chain of them — nothing committed is ever truly lost.

  5. create a line of development git branch feature

    A branch is just a 40-byte pointer. That cheapness rewired how the entire world collaborates on code.

  6. move onto a branch git switch -c feature

    Switch branches to work in parallel without stepping on anyone. Merge them back when ready.

  7. combine two branches git merge feature

    Merging weaves two histories into one. A conflict is just Git asking you to decide — not a failure.

  8. Boss missionread the project history git log

    git log is a time machine: every author, message and decision. The story of the code, kept forever.

Certificate

This is one of the original eras, so it ends at the boss mission: there is no written exam and no certificate for it. Clearing the boss marks the era complete and banks the XP. The expansion tracks (networking, Cisco IOS, FortiOS, containers, Kubernetes, cloud, operations, defence, models and the nine graphics eras) are the ones that carry exams.

Nearby eras

Previous
1991 · The Readable Language
A working Python REPL (print, arithmetic, variables, strings, lists, loops, len and sum) that actually evaluates what you type.
Next
2022 · The Model Era
Work language models from a terminal: local model runners, tokenization, sampling, system prompts, tool calls, RAG, injection defence.

All 25 eras in the Terminal Academy

Open Version Control in the terminal