Creating new files

You can create new files directly on GitHub in any repository you have write access to.

When creating a file on GitHub, consider the following:

Warning: Never git add, commit, or push sensitive information to a remote repository. Sensitive information can include, but is not limited to:

  • Passwords
  • SSH keys
  • AWS access keys
  • API keys
  • Credit card numbers
  • PIN numbers

For more information, see "Removing sensitive data from a repository."

  1. On GitHub.com, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. In your repository, browse to the folder where you want to create a file.

  3. Above the list of files, select the Add file dropdown menu, then click Create new file.

    Alternatively, you can click in the file tree view on the left.

    Screenshot of the main page of the repository. Above the list of a files, a button, labeled "Add file," is outlined in dark orange. In the file tree view of the repository, a button, with the plus sign icon, is also outlined in dark orange.

  4. In the file name field, type the name and extension for the file. To create subdirectories, type the / directory separator.

  5. In the file contents text box, type content for the file.

  6. To review the new content, above the file contents, click Preview.

    Screenshot of a file in edit mode. Above the text box for editing file contents, a tab, labeled "Preview", outlined in dark orange.

  7. Click Commit changes...

  8. In the "Commit message" field, type a short, meaningful commit message that describes the change you made to the file. You can attribute the commit to more than one author in the commit message. For more information, see "Creating a commit with multiple authors."

  9. If you have more than one email address associated with your account on GitHub.com, click the email address drop-down menu and select the email address to use as the Git author email address. Only verified email addresses appear in this drop-down menu. If you enabled email address privacy, then <username>@users.noreply.github.com is the default commit author email address. For more information, see "Setting your commit email address."

    Screenshot of a GitHub pull request showing a dropdown menu with options to choose the commit author email address. octocat@github.com is selected.

  10. Below the commit message fields, decide whether to add your commit to the current branch or to a new branch. If your current branch is the default branch, you should choose to create a new branch for your commit and then create a pull request. For more information, see "Creating a pull request."

    Screenshot of a GitHub pull request showing a radio button to commit directly to the main branch or to create a new branch. New branch is selected.

  11. Click Commit changes or Propose changes.