Primarily designed for developers, GitHub is a platform that facilitates the creation, storage, management, and sharing of code. Built upon Git software, it provides features such as version control, access control, and bug tracking. Since becoming a Microsoft subsidiary in 2018, GitHub has established itself as a premier host for open source software projects. As of January 2023, it boasts a vibrant community of over 100 million developers and is home to more than 420 million repositories. GitHub was conceived in 2008 by its four founders and initially operated as a flat organization, fostering autonomy, flexibility, and collaboration among its members. In addition to version control, GitHub also provides services such as task management, continuous integration, and support for project wikis. It is more than just a platform; it’s a comprehensive suite of tools for software development.
GitHub (/ˈɡɪthʌb/) is a developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage and share their code. It uses Git software, providing the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous integration, and wikis for every project. Headquartered in California, it has been a subsidiary of Microsoft since 2018.
![]() GitHub Invertocat logo | |
Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | Collaborative version control |
Available in | English |
Founded | February 8, 2008 | (as Logical Awesome LLC)
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Founder(s) |
|
Key people |
|
Industry | Collaborative version control (GitHub) AI development tools (GitHub Copilot) Blog host (GitHub Pages) Package repository (NPM) |
Revenue | ![]() |
Employees | 5,595 |
Parent | Microsoft |
URL | github |
Registration | Optional (required for creating and joining repositories) |
Users | 100 million (as of January 2023[update]) |
Launched | April 10, 2008 |
Current status | Active |
Written in | Ruby JavaScript Go C Rust |
ASN | 36459 |
It is commonly used to host open source software development projects. As of January 2023[update], GitHub reported having over 100 million developers and more than 420 million repositories, including at least 28 million public repositories. It is the world's largest source code host as of June 2023[update].