Qlopedia

Developer platform, Git repositories, open source, pull requests, issues, GitHub Actions, GitHub Pages, Copilot, Microsoft acquisition, and software collaboration

GitHub

GitHub is a popular developer platform for hosting code, collaborating on software, reviewing changes, tracking issues, automating workflows, and publishing open-source projects. Founded in 2008 and acquired by Microsoft in 2018, it has become core infrastructure for modern software development.

Founded
GitHub was founded in 2008 as a platform built around Git repositories.
Acquired
Microsoft completed its acquisition of GitHub on October 26, 2018.
Scale
GitHub says more than 150 million developers use the platform.
GitHub is a central collaboration platform for software development and open source.View image on Wikimedia Commons

What GitHub is

GitHub is a website and developer platform for storing code, managing changes, reviewing work, and collaborating on software at GitHub.com. It combines Git version control with a social and project-management layer: repositories, commits, branches, pull requests, issues, releases, discussions, wikis, packages, and automation tools.

GitHub homepage screenshot showing the developer platform hero, Copilot message, navigation, and sign-up controls.
GitHub homepage screenshot showing the developer platform with its Copilot and code collaboration message, navigation, sign-in controls, and email sign-up field.

Built around Git

GitHub's core object is the repository, or repo. Git tracks the history of files inside a repo so developers can branch, experiment, merge changes, and recover earlier versions. GitHub added a web interface and collaboration workflow that made Git easier for teams and open-source communities to use at scale.

Pull requests and code review

Pull requests are one of GitHub's defining workflows. A developer proposes a change, others review the diff, discuss it, request edits, run automated checks, and then merge or close it. This turned code review into a visible, linkable conversation rather than a private exchange of patches.

Open source home

GitHub became a central home for open-source software because it made discovery and participation easier. Anyone can browse public repositories, report issues, fork code, submit pull requests, star projects, read documentation, and follow maintainers. That visibility helped many projects grow, but it also increased maintainer workload and pressure.

Actions, Pages, and platform tools

GitHub expanded beyond code hosting. GitHub Actions runs automation workflows such as tests, builds, deployments, and release tasks. GitHub Pages can publish static websites from repositories. Packages, Codespaces, security scanning, project boards, and enterprise controls make GitHub a broader software delivery platform.

Microsoft ownership

Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018, a symbolic turn after years when many open-source developers distrusted Microsoft. The acquisition gave GitHub more enterprise reach and placed it inside Microsoft's developer strategy. It also made GitHub's independence, pricing, platform direction, and relationship to open source recurring topics of debate.

Copilot and AI development

GitHub Copilot moved GitHub into AI-assisted coding. Copilot can suggest code, answer questions, and increasingly act on development tasks inside GitHub workflows. This makes GitHub important not only as a place where code is stored, but as a place where human and AI software work is coordinated, reviewed, and shipped.

Why it matters

GitHub matters because it changed how software is built in public and in companies. It made collaboration, review, automation, and open-source contribution more accessible. It also concentrates a large amount of software infrastructure in one platform, so changes to GitHub can ripple through startups, governments, research labs, hobby projects, and major technology companies.