Glossary

What Is Version Control (Git)?

Version control is a system that records changes to files over time, allowing you to recall specific versions, see who changed what and when, and collaborate with others without overwriting each other's work. Git is the dominant distributed version control system — used by virtually all professional development teams. GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket host Git repositories and add collaboration tools on top.

Core Git concepts

Repository (repo): a directory tracked by Git, containing all your project files and the full history of changes. Commit: a snapshot of changes at a point in time (with a message describing what changed). Branch: a parallel version of the repo — used to develop features without affecting the main codebase. Merge: combining changes from one branch into another. Pull request (PR): a request to merge changes, reviewed by team members before merging.

Git for web development workflows

Standard workflow: main branch contains production code. Feature branches are created for new work: `git checkout -b feature/new-templates`. Changes are committed with descriptive messages: `git commit -m 'feat: add restaurant template page'`. Branches are merged via pull request after review. Tags mark releases. For solo developers, a simpler main-only workflow is fine.

GitHub and deployment

Many hosting platforms (Vercel, Netlify, Railway) connect to GitHub repositories and auto-deploy on every push to main. This creates a CI/CD pipeline where pushing code triggers a build and deployment automatically. For manual deployments (like this server), pulling the latest code from GitHub and rebuilding is the standard approach.

Version Control (Git) & Canvas Builder

canvasbuilder.co's codebase is managed in Git with GitHub, with deployment triggered by pushes to the main branch. All programmatic SEO pages, blog changes, and template additions are tracked as commits.

Try Canvas Builder →

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know Git to use Canvas Builder?

No — Canvas Builder generates HTML files you can download and use directly. However, for professional development workflows, version control with Git is standard practice.

What is .gitignore?

.gitignore is a file that lists files and directories Git should not track — typically node_modules/, .env files with secrets, build outputs, and OS files like .DS_Store. Always create a .gitignore before your first commit.