Staging Area

Learn what the staging area is and how it helps you control what goes into a commit. The staging area is an intermediate step between the working directory and a commit.

What is the staging area?

• It allows you to choose which changes will be saved in the next snapshot.

Nothing is committed automatically. You decide what is included.

Without a staging area, every change would be committed together.

The staging area lets you:

• Group related changes

• Exclude unfinished work

• Create clean, meaningful commits

How it fits in the workflow?

The usual flow is:

1. Edit files in the working directory

2. Select changes for staging

3. Create a commit from staged changes

You can stage some changes and leave others for later.

Bash

# Check file status
git status

# Stage a specific file
git add index.js

# Stage all modified files
git add .

These commands move changes from the working directory into the staging area, preparing them for a commit.

When changes are staged:

• Git takes a snapshot of the selected files

• The snapshot is prepared for committing

• Other modified files remain untouched

Common beginner mistakes

• Staging everything without reviewing

• Forgetting to stage files before committing

• Mixing unrelated changes in one commit