Walkthrough — Stage 4: Try a Branch
No code changes. The walkthrough explains the two Git commands you ran.
Command: git branch
git branchWhat's happening:
git branch with no arguments lists every branch in your local repository. It also marks your current branch with an asterisk (*). Think of it as "where am I?" for Git.
Before Stage 4, there is only main. After Stage 4, there is main and dark-theme.
Command: git checkout -b dark-theme
git checkout -b dark-themeWhat's happening:
git checkout -b <name> is a two-for-one:
git branch <name>— create a branch called<name>pointing at the current commit.git checkout <name>— switch to that branch so future commits land on it.
The -b flag is what adds the "create" step. Without -b, git checkout assumes the branch already exists.
The mental model
A branch is a label that moves. It is not a folder, not a copy of your files, not a second version of the project on disk.
Right now, both main and dark-theme point at the same commit — the Stage 3 "Added scoreboard to the game screen" save point. When you make a new commit from dark-theme, that new commit becomes the latest on dark-theme, but main stays where it was.
That is why the files on disk do not change when you create a branch. There is nothing new yet. You just planted a second flag on the same hill.
Command: git status (sanity check)
git statusWhat's happening:
Running git status after creating a branch is a useful habit. It should say nothing to commit, working tree clean — confirming that branching did not modify any files.