GitHub and teamwork

GitHub makes collaboration easy. You can invite other users to work on your project or contribute to their repositories.

Adding a branch protection rule

If you don't want others to be able to update your main branch without your approval, you need to set up a branch protection rule. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Go to your repository page on GitHub.
2. Click Settings.
3. In the menu on the left, click Branches.
4. Next to Branch protection rules, click Add rule.
5. Under Branch name pattern, enter the name of the branch you want to protect, for instance main.
6. Under Protect matching branches, tick Require pull request reviews before merging.
7. Scroll down and click Create.

Sharing your repository with other users

If you want to let other GitHub users contribute to your repository, follow these steps:

1. Go to your repository page on GitHub and click Settings.
2. In the menu on the left, click Manage access.
3. To add a contributor, click Invite a collaborator.
4. Search the user you want to work with by their username, full name, or email and click Select a collaborator above.

Contributing to another user's repository

If another GitHub user has shared their repository with you, and you want to contribute your work, do the following:

1. In the invitation email from GitHub, click View invitation.
2. Click Accept invitation.
   
3. To clone the repository on your computer, click Code > Open with GitHub Desktop.
4. In GitHub Desktop, enter Local path and click Clone.
5. Create a new branch by clicking Current branch > New branch.
6. Enter the name of your branch and click Create branch.
7. Once you have made your changes, commit them and click Publish branch.
8. To propose your changes to the repository owner, click Create Pull Request.
9. On the GitHub page that opens, write any message to the repository owner and click Create pull request.

Reviewing contributor changes

To accept or decline changes made by a contributor, follow these instructions:

1. Go to your repository page on GitHub and click Pull requests.
2. Click a pull request created by a contributor.
3. To review the changes, click Add your review.
4. Click Review changes, write any message to the contributor and tick one of the following options:

• Comment to submit feedback without approval.
• Approve to submit feedback and approve merging of the changes.
• Request changes to submit feedback that the contributor must address before merging.

5. Click Submit review.
6. To merge any approved changes with your main branch, click Merge pull request.
7. Click Confirm merge.
8. You can delete the contributor's branch by clicking Delete branch.

Resolving conflicts

When multiple people work on the same files, they can introduce conflicting changes. To resolve conflicts introduced by a contributor, follow these steps:

1. Go to your repository page on GitHub and click Pull requests.
2. Click a pull request created by a contributor.
3. Click Resolve conflicts.
4. Edit the document to remove the conflicts and click Mark as resolved.
5. Click Commit merge.