GitDojo

Learn Git by doing.

Type real Git commands, watch what each one changes, and learn how to recover when things go wrong. Short guided lessons first, then challenges without the hand-holding.

Start learning Open playground
  • Open source
  • Runs safely in your browser
  • No account needed to learn

Demo: Your first commit

Try it in the playground

$

Working tree

README.md

Staging area

Nothing staged

Repository

No .git yet

A folder with one file, README.md. It isn't a Git repository yet.

01How it works

Every command changes the repository. GitDojo shows you how.

Short, hands-on lessons that run entirely in your browser. Read the idea, type the command, watch the repository respond, then use it without help.

  1. 01 learn

    One idea at a time

    Each lesson explains a single concept in a few minutes, with the commands that go with it.

  2. 02 type

    Run real commands

    You get a repository and objectives. They tick off when the repository reaches the right state, however you get there.

  3. 03 visualize

    See what changed

    Files move between the working tree, staging area and history, and the commit graph redraws after every command.

  4. 04 fix

    Break it, then recover

    Challenges and Practice tasks set a goal with no step-by-step instructions, so you work it out.

Your dashboard shows where to continue. No account needed; sign in to sync across devices.

02What you can learn

From first commit to recovering lost work

7 courses and 48 lessons, in order, from what Git is to working with a remote.

Browse all courses
  1. 01Git Basics10 lessonsLearn how Git repositories, staging, commits, and history work.
  2. 02Branching6 lessonsWork on features in isolation: create branches, move between them with git switch, and understand what HEAD points to.
  3. 03Merging5 lessonsBring finished work back together: fast-forward merges, three-way merges and merge commits, and the everyday feature-branch workflow.
  4. 04Merge Conflicts5 lessonsLearn why conflicts happen, how to read conflict markers, and how to resolve them by hand, one file or several at a time.
  5. 05Undo and Recover11 lessonsSee exactly what changed, undo it at every level, shelve unfinished work, copy commits between branches, find "lost" commits, replay a branch onto a new base and tidy its history with an interactive rebase.
  6. 06Everyday Git5 lessonsThe housekeeping commands you reach for every week: keeping generated files and secrets out of the repository, renaming files, reading what a commit changed, fixing the commit you just made, and tagging releases.
  7. 07Remotes and Collaboration6 lessonsWork with other people: how local branches relate to origin/main, fetching without changing anything, pulling changes in, pushing a branch, and reading a rejected push, then doing it all hands-on against a simulated origin.

03See inside Git

Git makes more sense when you can see it.

GitDojo makes the invisible parts of Git visible.

  • Working tree
  • Staging area
  • Commits
  • Branches
  • HEAD
A commit graph: a feature branch splits from main and is merged back, with HEAD on main.feature

HEADmainMerge branch 'feature'

  • A real Git engine in a terminal

    Commands run against an actual repository in your browser, with Git's own output. There is no server shell and nothing to install.

  • The graph redraws as you go

    Branches, merges, rebases and HEAD update after every command, so you see what Git did rather than guess.

  • A code editor beside it

    Edit files, resolve merge conflicts by hand, and watch Git notice the changes.

  • Hints when you're stuck

    Hints start with the idea and only reach the exact command if you ask for it.

  • “Why did this happen?”

    When a command fails, GitDojo explains the error in plain words, using your own files and branches.

04Real Git challenges

Break things safely.

  • Merge the wrong branch.
  • Lose a commit.
  • Enter detached HEAD.
  • Create a conflict.

Then learn how to recover.

Every lesson and challenge can start over, and nothing touches a real project.

Remotes are simulated in your browser too: fetch, pull and push work against a practice “origin”, and nothing reaches the network.

17real-world challengesA broken repository and a goal, like recovering a lost commit or untangling a bad merge. No step-by-step instructions.11Practice tasksOne skill each, with no objectives and no hints: reach the end state the mission describes.The playgroundNo lesson and no objectives: a sandbox to try anything. Start empty or load a ready-made situation.
  • Empty Repository
  • Simple Repository
  • Two Branches
  • Merge Conflict
  • Detached HEAD
  • Recovery Practice

05 Certification track

Earn the Git Foundations completion certificate

Complete 10 lessons and 1 Practice task with a free account, and GitDojo issues a certificate with a PDF, a signed Open Badge and a public verification page.

See the requirements
  • Checkable by anyone. Its verification page shows, without an account, whether it is valid or revoked right now.
  • A completion certificate. It records that you completed the course work in GitDojo; it is not a graded exam or an industry certification. Criteria version 2.
  • Want your Git history graded? The separate Git capstone is checked on the server.

Built in the open.

GitDojo is MIT licensed. Contribute lessons, challenges, features, docs and fixes: lessons are plain YAML files.

View on GitHub

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