Stage 4 — Try a Branch

Create a new branch called dark-theme. No files change yet — the lesson is what a branch actually is.

What You'll Learn

• What a branch is (a movable label, not a copy of files)
• git branch — list branches and see which one you are on
• git checkout -b <name> — create and switch to a new branch

Prerequisites

You finished Stage 3. Running git log --oneline shows three commits, all on main.

What Changes

The project files do not change. No HTML edit, no CSS edit, no new file, no new commit. You create a new branch and switch to it.

Outcome

• git branch lists two branches: main and dark-theme.
• The asterisk in the output points to dark-theme — that is your current branch.
• The webpage looks exactly the same.

This is the stage where the mental model matters more than the result. A branch is not a copy of your project — it is a label that marks your place in the history.