GitHub and Visual Studio: How to Connect Them

For developers worldwide, GitHub has become the go-to platform for storing and collaborating on coding projects. It’s an ideal tool for keeping track of code changes in a VCS environment. Meanwhile, Visual Studio is a powerful IDE that helps developers create robust software solutions for a variety of platforms.

When you combine GitHub with Visual Studio, you can improve your development workflow. Using these two tools together provides features such as version control and code reviewing, making it easier to make changes to your codebase.

Step 1: Install GitHub Extension for Visual Studio

The first step to connect GitHub to Visual Studio is to install the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio. Open Visual Studio and navigate to the “Extensions” menu. Search for “GitHub Extension for Visual Studio” and install it.

Step 2: Sign in to GitHub from Visual Studio

After installing the GitHub Extension for Visual Studio, you’ll need to sign in to your GitHub account from within the IDE. To do this, open Visual Studio, go to the “Team Explorer” pane, and select the “Connect to GitHub” link. You’ll be prompted to enter your GitHub credentials. Follow the prompts to sign in.

Step 3: Clone a GitHub Repository

Once you’ve signed in to your GitHub account, you can clone a repository from your GitHub account into Visual Studio. Navigate to the repositories tab in the “Team Explorer” panel and click on the “Clone a Repository” link. Select the repository you want to clone and click on the “Clone” button. Visual Studio will download the repository to your local computer.

Step 4: Configure Git Settings

Visual Studio is integrated with Git, a popular version control system that’s compatible with GitHub. You need to configure Git settings to enable it to work with your repository. Navigate to the “Settings” tab in the “Team Explorer” panel and select “Git Config.”

Enter your name and email address in the “User Information” section. Check the “Enable Git Credential Manager” checkbox and click on the “OK” button.

Step 5: Create and Edit Files

After cloning the repository, you can create and edit files in Visual Studio. Make the necessary changes to the code, save it, and commit it to GitHub using the “Commit” button in the “Team Explorer” panel.

Step 6: Push to GitHub

Once you’ve committed your code changes, you need to push your changes to GitHub. Navigate to the “Changes” tab in the “Team Explorer” panel and click on the “Sync” button. This will push your changes to GitHub.

Conclusion

Connecting GitHub to Visual Studio can streamline your development workflow and provide an efficient method of managing your code changes. Follow these simple steps to quickly connect GitHub to Visual Studio and start collaborating on your coding projects.