From Publishing Pro to GitHub Novice, with a little help from Claude
A Non-Coder’s Adventure in VS Code
Remember the days of saving countless versions of a document? “MyTextbook_v1.2.docx”, “MyTextbook_v1.3_FINAL.docx”, “MyTextbook_v1.3_REALLY_FINAL.docx”…
As a former publisher, this dance of document versioning was all too familiar. Little did I know that my journey into coding would introduce me to a far more sophisticated (and slightly intimidating) version of this process: GitHub.
Join me, a non-coder with a publishing background, as I fumble through setting up GitHub integration with Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and the help of Claude as my new code buddy. Spoiler alert: if I can do it, so can you!
Installing VS Code
My adventure (?) started with a simple download: Visual Studio Code. My sister-in-law, a developer, uses this for her work. It was a daunting interface, like being handed the keys to a spaceship when you’ve only ever driven a bicycle. Luckily, I’ve had some experience making websites in my youth, mainly HTML and CSS-based, so I could work around a folder structure.
With VS Code installed and my project folder open, I confidently attempted to push my folders to a GitHub repository. Cue the confused blinking. Push? Repository? It was clear I had some learning to do.
Git-ting Started
After some chatting with my code buddy Claude, I learned that before I could do anything, I needed to initialize a Git repository. In VS Code, I found the Source Control view (Cmd+Shift+G on Mac) and clicked “Initialize Repository.”
Next came staging changes. Think of it as carefully packing your suitcase before a trip. I used the “+” icon to stage my changed files, feeling like I was slowly piecing together a puzzle.
Just when I thought I was making progress, I hit a roadblock. Attempting to commit my changes resulted in an error: Git didn’t know who I was. It was like showing up to a party without an invitation.
The solution? I had to introduce myself to Git. In the terminal in Visual Code Studio, I copied the following, provided by Claude:
git config --global user.email "your-email@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"Suddenly, I had an identity in the coding world!
The First Commit
With my identity established, I made my first commit. Entering a commit message felt like leaving a note for future me.
The last step was connecting to GitHub. Logging into an account and creating a new repository felt familiar—like setting up a new social media profile, but for my code.
Back in VS Code, I used the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) to add a remote repository, connecting my local repository to its new home on GitHub. Finally, I pushed my commits, watching my first block turn green.
While all this is relatively straightforward and could have been worked out through some heavy Googling and reading the help pages, working with Claude meant I could ask questions, provide error messages and get targeted responses to exactly what my issue was.
The next step is to fork some code from a repository and develop some more web apps with the help of code-bud Claude!
