GitHub combines a syntax for formatting text called GitHub Flavored Markdown with a few unique writing features.

Markdown is an easy-to-read, easy-to-write syntax for formatting plain text.

We've added some custom functionality to create GitHub Enterprise Flavored Markdown, used to format prose and code across our site.

You can also interact with other users in pull requests, issues, and wikis with features like @mentions, issue and PR references, and emoji.

Further reading