Box Runner

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Exercises — Stage 7: Connect to GitHub ​

Exercise 1: Inspect .git/config ​

Goal: See where the remote is actually stored.

Steps:

  1. Run cat .git/config.
  2. Look for a [remote "origin"] section.

What happened: The remote is just a few lines of text in .git/config. Nothing magical. If you wanted to, you could edit that file by hand — but use git remote commands instead so Git validates the input.

Exercise 2: Remove and re-add the remote ​

Goal: Practice the full lifecycle of a remote.

Steps:

  1. Run git remote remove origin.
  2. Run git remote -v — no remotes listed.
  3. Run git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-username>/box-runner.git again.
  4. Run git remote -v — origin is back.

What happened: Removing a remote only deletes the local pointer. The GitHub repo is untouched. You can add and remove remotes freely.

Exercise 3: Change the URL ​

Goal: Learn git remote set-url.

Steps:

  1. Run git remote set-url origin https://github.com/<your-username>/box-runner.git (same URL — pretend it changed).
  2. Run git remote -v to confirm.

What happened: set-url replaces the existing URL instead of adding a new one. Useful when you move a repo between accounts or migrate between hosts.

Exercise 4: Peek at the empty repo on GitHub ​

Goal: Get familiar with the GitHub UI.

Steps:

  1. Go to your repo page on github.com.
  2. Find the "Quick setup" box.
  3. Read the commands GitHub suggests — you will recognize most of them.

What happened: GitHub offers two flows: "create a new repository on the command line" and "push an existing repository." You are doing the second flow, manually.