Installation

Installing Git and Essential Tools

Before vibe coding effectively, you need a properly configured environment. This chapter guides you step by step.

Installing Git

Windows

Recommended: Git for Windows

1. Download Git for Windows
2. Run the installer
3. Accept the default options (they’re good)
4. At “Adjusting your PATH”, choose “Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software”

Verification:

git --version
# git version 2.43.0.windows.1

TipWindows Terminal

Install Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store for a better command-line experience.

macOS

Option 1: Xcode Command Line Tools (simplest)

xcode-select --install

Option 2: Homebrew (recommended for developers)

# Install Homebrew if not already done
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Git
brew install git

Verification:

git --version
# git version 2.43.0

Linux

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

Fedora:

sudo dnf install git

Arch:

sudo pacman -S git

Configuring Git

Minimum required configuration:

# Your identity
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

# Default editor (VS Code recommended)
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

# Default branch
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# Colors in terminal
git config --global color.ui auto

Recommended Configuration for Vibe Coding

# Pull with rebase by default (avoids merge commits)
git config --global pull.rebase true

# Push only current branch
git config --global push.default current

# Better diff for moved files
git config --global diff.renames true

# Useful aliases
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.cm "commit -m"
git config --global alias.last "log -1 HEAD"
git config --global alias.visual "log --oneline --graph --all"

Creating a GitHub Account

1. Go to github.com
2. Click “Sign up”
3. Follow the creation steps
4. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) — strongly recommended

ImportantAccount Security

Your GitHub account will contain potentially sensitive code. Enable 2FA and use a strong, unique password.

Installing a Coding Agent

Claude Code (recommended)

Claude Code is Anthropic’s official CLI agent:

# Installation via npm
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Or via Homebrew (macOS)
brew install claude-code

# Configuration
claude-code auth

Cursor

1. Download from cursor.com
2. Install the application
3. Sign in with your account

GitHub Copilot

1. Subscribe to GitHub Copilot
2. Install the VS Code extension “GitHub Copilot”
3. Sign in to your GitHub account

Aider

Open source terminal agent:

# Via pip
pip install aider-chat

# Configuration
aider --help

Verifying Your Installation

Create a verification script:

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Environment Check ==="

echo -n "Git: "
git --version 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

echo -n "Git user.name: "
git config user.name 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT CONFIGURED"

echo -n "Git user.email: "
git config user.email 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT CONFIGURED"

echo -n "GitHub CLI: "
gh --version 2>/dev/null | head -1 || echo "NOT INSTALLED (optional)"

echo "=== Check Complete ==="

Recommended Work Structure

Organize your projects consistently:

~/code/                    # or ~/projects/
├── work/                  # Professional projects
│   ├── project-a/
│   └── project-b/
├── personal/              # Personal projects
│   ├── side-project/
│   └── experiments/
└── learning/              # Learning and tutorials
    ├── tutorials/
    └── sandbox/

# Create this structure
mkdir -p ~/code/{work,personal,learning}

TipWhy This Organization?

• Clear separation between contexts (work/personal)
• Easy to navigate in the terminal
• Simple backup: you know where everything is
• AI agents: you can give them context (“this is a work project”)

Global .gitignore File

Create a global .gitignore file to ignore common files:

# Create the file
touch ~/.gitignore_global

# Configure it as global gitignore
git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

Recommended content for ~/.gitignore_global:

# System files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
Desktop.ini

# Editors
*.swp
*.swo
*~
.idea/
.vscode/
*.sublime-*

# Python environments
__pycache__/
*.py[cod]
.env
.venv/
venv/

# Node
node_modules/
npm-debug.log

# Generic build files
*.log
*.tmp
*.temp

# Secrets (never commit!)
*.pem
*.key
.env.local
.env.*.local
secrets.json

Next Steps

Your environment is ready! In the next chapter, we configure authentication with GitHub.

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→ GitHub Setup