Appendix C — Extras: Manually create a GitHub repo
This is a short guide on how to manually create a GitHub repository, starting from the GitHub interface rather than from RStudio.
Open up GitHub in a browser and make sure you are logged in. Create a new repository by clicking the + symbol at the top right to open a menu and selecting the “New repository” item.
You’ll be sent to a screen with some options for the new repository. In this new page, type out a name for the new repository under “Repository name”. For this guide, you can type out learning-github as a name for the repository and leave everything else blank. If you want, you can set the repository to “Private” under the “Configurations” section in “Choose visibility”.
Ok, we now have a remote (GitHub) repository to work with. The next step depends on whether you have an existing repository with a history or you are starting completely from new. If you haven’t created a Git repository and saved to its history locally, the easiest way of getting your GitHub repository onto your computer as a local repository is to download it (or to “clone” it in Git terms).
You can “clone” a GitHub repository easily from RStudio’s “Create Project from Version Control” interface. Go to RStudio and click the “File” menu on the top menu bar. Under the “File” menu, click “New Project…”, then select “Version Control”, then “Git”. In the next screen, paste your repository URL (copied from your repository page on GitHub) into the “Repository URL” box. Don’t change the name of the project in the “Project directory name”. Select the “Browse…” button next to the “Create project as subdirectory of” box and choose to save the project to your Desktop/ folder (or another folder if you want). Finally, click the “Create Project” button.
If you created a private GitHub repository, you will need to authenticate with GitHub. Depending on your setup, your computer may already be authenticated with GitHub, or you may need to set it up. We cover authenticating with GitHub in Chapter 19.
You now have a local copy of the manually created GitHub repository on your computer! 🎉