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Foundational GitHub roadmap

GH-900 GitHub Foundations Roadmap

A five-phase path through Git and GitHub basics, repository health, issue and pull-request collaboration, Actions and Copilot, Codespaces, Projects, account security, administration, and open-source community participation.

Exam code: GH-900Seven official domainsSuggested plan: 6–8 weeksPublished: August 19, 2026
Use Microsoft Learn as the exam source of truth. This roadmap follows the active GH-900 study guide, whose skills are listed as of January 2026 and which Microsoft marked as significantly changed that month. GitHub plans, interfaces, preview features, limits, permissions, Copilot capabilities, and exam objectives can change. Recheck the official guide and current GitHub Docs before scheduling or configuring a real organization.

What GH-900 validates

GH-900 is designed for non-developers, developers, and other GitHub users who need foundational proficiency. The exam spans version control and GitHub Flow, healthy repositories, collaboration, modern development tooling, planning, identity and access, and community participation. Study feature purpose and workflow relationships rather than memorizing interface locations.

Official skill domainWeight
Understand Git and GitHub basics25–30%
Work with GitHub repositories10–15%
Collaborate using GitHub10–15%
Apply modern development practices10–15%
Manage projects with GitHub5–10%
Understand privacy, security, and administration10–15%
Explore the GitHub community5–10%
1

Version control, Git, GitHub, and GitHub Flow

Week 1

Build the vocabulary that every later domain assumes. Practice with a disposable repository instead of learning definitions in isolation.

  • Explain version control benefits: history, recovery, attribution, branching, merging, and parallel work
  • Distinguish distributed Git from GitHub's hosted collaboration platform
  • Identify working copy, repository, commit, branch, remote, clone, fetch, pull, push, merge, and conflict
  • Compare personal accounts, organizations, and enterprise accounts
  • Complete GitHub Flow from branch through pull request, review, merge, and branch deletion
  • Write clear commit messages and inspect a diff before committing
  • Use Markdown headings, lists, links, task lists, tables, code blocks, mentions, and issue references
  • Choose GitHub Desktop for graphical local Git and Mobile for portable collaboration
2

Repositories, files, branches, and healthy maintenance

Weeks 2–3

Learn how repository structure, visibility, templates, community files, and insights make work understandable and maintainable.

  • Create, clone, organize, rename, archive, and safely delete a disposable repository
  • Compare public, private, and enterprise internal visibility without assuming identical plan behavior
  • Explain README, LICENSE, CONTRIBUTING, CODE_OF_CONDUCT, SECURITY, SUPPORT, and CODEOWNERS
  • Add, edit, move, and remove files through the web interface and local Git
  • Create and synchronize branches while protecting the default branch
  • Distinguish template repositories, forks, clones, and generated repositories
  • Use repository topics, descriptions, releases, tags, stars, watchers, and feature previews appropriately
  • Inspect repository Insights, traffic, contributors, commits, network, community health, and dependency views subject to permissions
  • Apply maintenance practices: clear ownership, current documentation, scoped changes, review, automation, and issue hygiene
3

Issues, pull requests, Discussions, notifications, and publishing

Week 4

Choose the right collaboration surface and connect work so that intent, review, and outcome remain traceable.

  • Use issues for actionable work and Discussions for open-ended questions, ideas, announcements, and community conversation
  • Create issue forms and pull request templates that request useful context
  • Organize with labels, assignees, milestones, filters, saved searches, and task lists
  • Link a pull request to an issue and use supported closing keywords intentionally
  • Review Files changed, add line comments, request changes, approve, and resolve conversations responsibly
  • Compare merge commit, squash, and rebase strategies at a foundational level
  • Configure watching, subscriptions, notification inbox filters, routing, and unsubscription
  • Use Gists for shareable snippets, Wikis for repository documentation, and Pages for static websites
  • Complete Project 1's synthetic open-source-style contribution workflow
4

Actions, Copilot, Codespaces, github.dev, and Projects

Weeks 5–6

Connect automation, AI assistance, reproducible environments, and flexible planning to the software development lifecycle.

  • Explain Actions events, workflows, jobs, steps, actions, runners, logs, artifacts, secrets, and status checks
  • Recognize CI, test, release, deployment, issue-management, and scheduled automation scenarios
  • Treat Copilot suggestions and agent-produced changes as proposed work requiring review and testing
  • Compare current individual, Business, and Enterprise Copilot plans without memorizing volatile limits
  • Recognize Copilot chat, multi-model selection, agent mode, and coding-agent concepts where currently available
  • Open a Codespace and explain cloud compute, lifecycle, ports, retention, quotas, and billing awareness
  • Configure a dev container for reproducible tools, runtimes, settings, and extensions
  • Choose github.dev for quick browser edits and Codespaces when terminal or compute is required
  • Use Project table, board, and roadmap layouts with custom fields, iterations, views, workflows, status, and insights
  • Complete Project 2's secure Projects, Pages, Actions, and Codespaces lab
5

Privacy, security, administration, community, and readiness

Weeks 7–8

Finish with safe account operation, least privilege, protected collaboration, and responsible participation in public and internal communities.

  • Enable 2FA, protect recovery methods, and explain phishing-resistant passkeys
  • Apply least privilege across Read, Triage, Write, Maintain, Admin, organization, team, and enterprise roles
  • Configure repository visibility and branch protection or rulesets for reviews and checks
  • Explain teams, organization settings, auditability, and organization-wide Copilot policy at a foundational level
  • Describe Enterprise Managed Users, IdP-controlled lifecycle, authentication, and collaboration restrictions
  • Read README, license, contribution, conduct, and security guidance before contributing
  • Use forks and pull requests for upstream contributions and templates for independent starter projects
  • Explain open-source benefits, GitHub Sponsors, following, discovery, Marketplace purpose, and InnerSource
  • Review all seven objectives, retry missed questions, and explain why every distractor is incorrect
  • Verify both projects contain only synthetic content and have completed security and cleanup checks

PrepKloud GH-900 study surfaces

Official sources to keep open

GH-900 study guide

Confirm the active January 2026 domains, weights, audience, change log, and recommended resources.

Open Microsoft Learn
What is GitHub?

Review Git versus GitHub and how GitHub supports the software development lifecycle.

Open GitHub Docs
Repositories

Review repository terminology, ownership, collaboration, visibility, and next steps.

Open repository documentation
Pull requests

Review branches, forks, proposals, reviews, checks, merging, and conflicts.

Open pull request documentation
Modern development

Review GitHub Actions, Codespaces, dev containers, github.dev, and current Copilot plan documentation.

Open Actions documentation
GitHub Projects

Review layouts, synchronized items, fields, workflows, insights, templates, and status updates.

Open Projects documentation

Frequently asked questions

Is GH-900 active in 2026?

Yes. Microsoft Learn publishes an active GH-900 GitHub Foundations study guide with skills measured as of January 2026. Recheck it before scheduling.

What is the largest GH-900 domain?

Understand Git and GitHub basics is 25–30%. It covers version control, Git versus GitHub, core Git terms, accounts, GitHub Flow, Markdown, Desktop, and Mobile.

Do I need to write code for GH-900?

The audience includes developers and non-developers. You need practical GitHub fluency and modern-development concepts, but the blueprint does not require advanced programming.

How do Codespaces and github.dev differ?

Codespaces provides cloud compute, a terminal, runtimes, extensions, and dev-container configuration. github.dev is a lightweight browser editor for navigation and quick edits.

Are PrepKloud GH-900 questions exam dumps?

No. They are original educational questions grounded in public official objectives and documentation. They contain no live, recalled, leaked, or proprietary exam items and do not guarantee a pass.

Editorial, exam-integrity, security, and independence disclaimer: PrepKloud is independent and is not GitHub or Microsoft. This roadmap and linked questions, flashcards, and projects are original educational material based on current public official sources. Do not seek or share recalled exam questions. Never publish real secrets, personal data, employer source, customer records, or unsafe public services in a lab. Verify current exam objectives, plans, limits, pricing, permissions, previews, and policies with the provider.

Turn foundational GitHub knowledge into visible practice

Diagnose gaps with original questions, reinforce vocabulary with flashcards, and complete both synthetic beginner projects.