Downloading & Installing GitHub Desktop

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A Git UI provides an intuitive, visual interface for managing version control tasks without needing to use complex command-line Git commands. It simplifies common actions like staging changes, committing, branching, and resolving conflicts, making it especially helpful for beginners or those who prefer a more visual workflow. GitHub Desktop also integrates seamlessly with GitHub, allowing easy syncing, cloning, and pull request management.

While there are many Git UIs to choose from, this lesson uses GitHub Desktop. You are free to use any UI of your choice or the command-line interface. While this lesson is for first-time developers with little to no experience with Git, experienced Git users should also follow along as this lesson details how to use Git for your assignments.

Go to the website https://github.com/apps/desktop.

Home screen of github.com/apps/desktop with download now button

Click the Download now button located in the lower left corner.

On the download page, click the download button that matches your computer. If your computer is an M series, click the Download for Apple silicon. Click the Download for Intel chip if your computer is Intel-based.

If you do not know what type of computer you have, you can find out by clicking the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen and then clicking About This Mac. A window will appear that has information about your Mac. The value for chip will tell if the Mac is Intel or Apple Silicon.

Screenshots of the location of the Apple menu item and the About this Mac dialog

You may get a dialog requesting permission to download files from GitHub; click Allow. Once the download is complete, double-click the ZIP file to open it in a Finder window.