user: How do I commit and push my code to git hub using the terminal?

assistant: To commit and push your code to GitHub using the terminal, follow these steps:

1. Initialize Git: Open your terminal and navigate to the directory where your code is located. Use the `cd` command to change directories. Once you're in the correct directory, initialize Git by running the command:

```
git init
```

2. Add files: Add the files you want to commit to the staging area. You can add specific files using the following command:

```
git add <file1> <file2> ...
```

Or you can add all modified and new files using:

```
git add .
```

3. Commit changes: Create a commit to save your changes with a meaningful message describing the changes. Use the following command:

```
git commit -m "Your commit message here"
```

4. Connect to GitHub: Link your local repository to a remote repository on GitHub. If you haven't done so already, create a repository on GitHub. Then, use the following command to add the remote repository:

```
git remote add origin <remote repository URL>
```

5. Push changes: Finally, push your committed changes to the remote repository on GitHub using the command:

```
git push -u origin <branch-name>
```

Replace `<branch-name>` with the name of the branch you want to push. The `-u` flag sets the upstream branch, so you won't need to specify the branch name in future pushes.

If this is your first time pushing to the remote repository, you might need to provide your GitHub username and password or access token for authentication.

That's it! Your code should now be successfully committed and pushed to GitHub using the terminal.

user: How do I provide my GitHub username and password or access token for authentication from the terminal?

assistant: Starting from August 2021, GitHub has discontinued password-based authentication for Git operations and instead introduced the usage of personal access tokens. You can authenticate with GitHub through the terminal using a personal access token as follows:

1. First, you need to create a Personal Access Token on GitHub.

- Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens
- Click on "Generate new token"
- Choose a name for the token and select the scopes (permissions) you wish for this token. For basic git operations, 'repo', 'read:org', 'workflow', and 'write:discussion' should be sufficient.
- Click "Generate token" at the bottom of the page
- Copy the generated token. Make sure to save it somewhere safe because once you navigate away from the page, you cannot see it again.

2. After you've got your personal access token, you can use it in the terminal as follows:

Instead of using your password when you're cloning a repository or pushing/pulling, you use the personal access token. Here's an example:

```shell
git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git
Username: your_username
Password: your_token
```

Where "your_username" is your GitHub username and "your_token" is the personal access token you generated. 

3. If you want to avoid entering your username and token every time, you can use the git credential helper as follows:

```shell
git config --global credential.helper store
```

This will store your credentials on disk and you won't have to enter them every time. After running this command, the next time you perform a git operation that requires authentication, it will ask for your username and password (token), and then it will remember it for future operations. However, this method stores credentials in plain text, which may not be the most secure method.

For more secure storage, you can use:

```shell
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600'
```

This will store your credentials in memory for the specified period (in seconds), 3600 in this case.

4. Alternatively, use SSH keys for authentication:

This is a more secure and convenient method if you're frequently interacting with your GitHub repositories. You can generate a new SSH key, add it to the ssh-agent and then add it to your GitHub account. You can find more details on how to do this on the official GitHub documentation.