## Navigating to the project’s working directory

Before running the Git command to create the repository, we need to make sure that we’re in the right directory. The process for doing this differs slightly between operating systems.

- [Instructions for Windows](#windows)
- [Instructions for Mac](#mac)
- [Instructions for Linux](#linux)

If you need help getting set up, here’s a handy [guide to install and configure Git](/git/install-git).

### Windows

Open the **Command Prompt** from **Start > Windows System**, or by pressing **Windows + R** then typing `cmd` and clicking **OK**.

{screenshot: 333}

If you have created a folder for your project called `shop` in a `Projects` folder in your home directory, you’ll need to run the following command:

```
cd Projects\shop
```

Alternatively, you can click and drag the folder into the **Command Prompt** window which will automatically enter the path to the directory.

Now you’re ready to [actually create the repository](#actually-creating-the-repository).

### Mac

Open the **Terminal** app which can be found in **Applications > Utilities**.

{screenshot: 327}

If you have created a folder for your project called `shop` in a `Projects` folder in your home directory, you’ll need to run the following command:

```
cd ~/Projects/shop
```

Alternatively, you can click and drag the folder into the **Terminal** window which will automatically enter the path to the directory.

Now you’re ready to [actually create the repository](#actually-creating-the-repository).

### Linux

Open the **Terminal** application from the start menu, or by pressing **Ctrl + Alt + T**.

{screenshot: 329}

If you have created a folder for your project called `shop` in a `Projects` folder in your home directory, you’ll need to run the following command:

```
cd ~/Projects/shop
```

Now you’re ready to [actually create the repository](#actually-creating-the-repository).

## Actually creating the repository

Now that you’re in the right directory, enter `git init` in your command line and press enter to create a new empty Git repository. If successful, you should see a message like this:

```
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/rob/Projects/shop/.git/
```

A hidden folder named `.git` will have just been created inside your project’s working directory. This folder contains all the information Git stores about your repository including historical changes, remote repository addresses, and more.

This `.git` folder is your local copy of the repository. Deleting the `.git` folder won’t delete any of the files in your project, however you’ll lose access to all of the historical changes tracked by Git.

In a future tutorial, you’ll learn how to upload your Git repository to a remote server to preserve any local changes, share them, and give everyone else working on the project the ability to download their own local copy of the repository.

Don’t worry if some of this doesn’t make a lot of sense right now. All you need to know is that the `.git` folder is created by running `git init` and it is your own version of the project’s repository.

## Initialising into a specific directory

Instead of navigating to a directory first, you can provide a path directly to `git init`. Git will create the directory if it does not already exist:

```
git init my-new-project
```

This creates a `my-new-project` folder with an empty Git repository inside it, saving you a step when starting a brand new project.

## Setting the initial branch name

By default, Git names the first branch `master`. Many teams now prefer `main` as the default branch name. You can choose a different name at creation time with the `-b` flag:

```
git init -b main
```

To avoid needing this flag every time, set a global default so every new repository uses your preferred branch name automatically:

```
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
```

## Creating a bare repository

A bare repository stores only the Git object database — it has no working tree (no project files you can edit directly). Bare repositories are used as central remotes that multiple developers push to and pull from, such as the repositories hosted on GitHub, GitLab, or [Codebase](https://www.codebasehq.com).

```
git init --bare project.git
```

**Note:** By convention, bare repository directories are named with a `.git` suffix (e.g. `project.git`) to make their purpose clear. You would not typically work inside a bare repository directly — instead, developers clone it and push changes back.

## Next steps

Now that your repository is created, you're ready to start [staging and committing files](/git/committing-file-changes). Once you have some commits, you can [publish your repository](/git/publishing-local-changes) to a remote server so others can see your work.

With [DeployHQ](https://www.deployhq.com), every push to your repository can automatically trigger a deployment to your server — no manual steps needed.