How Git works: Understanding the workflow behind the commands

Did you know that Git stores your changes in four different locations, not two? Understanding this workflow is key to making Git commands finally make sense.

What is Git?

Git is a version control system that helps you track changes and manage your files. You can save different versions of your work, collaborate with others, and work on documentation projects without overwriting each other’s changes.

If you’re working in docs-as-code, Git is how you manage your documentation the same way developers manage code.

So where do your changes actually live in Git? Git has four locations where your changes can exist: three on your local machine (working directory, staging area, local repository) and one remote (the shared repository).

Git workflow diagram showing four stages

How Git maintains the four locations

Working directory - where you make your edits
Staging area - where changes wait before committing
Local repository - where changes are saved on your machine
Remote repository - the shared repository (like GitHub or GitLab) where your docs are stored

How changes flow through Git

When you’re working on your files:

You edit files in your working directory
git add moves changes to the staging area
git commit saves changes to your local repository
git push uploads changes to the remote repository

Once I understood this workflow, commands finally made sense:

git add moves changes to staging
git commit saves locally
git push syncs with your team

Other essential commands

git pull brings changes from remote to your local repository
git switch moves you between branches in your local repository

Once you understand the workflow, the commands make sense. And once the commands make sense, you can work confidently in any environment.

Ready to put this into practice? Check out my post on Git commands I use daily where I share the workflow and commands I learned through trial, error, and a very patient mentor.