GitHub

Where the code lives — repos, reviews, actions and releases.

Overview

GitHub is where code lives for most of the industry: Git hosting plus pull requests, code review, issues, Actions for CI/CD, Packages, Codespaces and, increasingly, Copilot. Its real value is less any single feature than the fact that every tool in a modern stack — deploy platforms, agents, editors — already speaks GitHub.

How I use it

Every project I build has a GitHub repository from the first commit, including this site. Work arrives as pull requests: some I write, most are opened by Claude Code or Codex working from a task, and the pull request is where I read the diff, run the checks and decide. Actions runs the tests and build gates; merging to main is what deploys, because Vercel watches the repository. Issues are lighter-weight than most teams make them: a place to park a bug or a TODO the agents can pick up later. For client projects the repository is also the handover — the client owns the code, the history, and the review trail that explains why things are the way they are.

Key features

Pull requests with reviews, required checks, code owners and merge queues GitHub Actions — CI/CD with 2,000 free minutes a month on the Free plan Issues, Projects and Discussions for tracking without another tool Codespaces cloud dev environments and Copilot (plans sold separately) Branch protection, rulesets, secret scanning and Dependabot Packages, Releases and Pages for artefacts and static sites

Best for

Anyone shipping software with more than one contributor — human or agent. Solo builders get the full review workflow for free; teams get the governance. The only people who don't need it are those whose platform (Lovable, Webflow) hides the code entirely — and even then, exporting to GitHub is the escape hatch.

Where it fits in my stack

GitHub → Vercel for every deploy and preview, Supabase migrations checked in alongside the app, Cursor , Claude Code and Codex all reading and writing the same repositories. It is the centre of the build-and-ship half of my stack .

Pros

The universal integration point — everything connects to it Free plan is generous for private work: unlimited repos, 2,000 Actions minutes Pull-request review is the best place to supervise AI-written code Ownership and history travel with the repository

Limitations

Actions minutes and storage on private repos cost money at scale Projects and Issues are basic next to Linear or Jira for heavy planning Copilot is a separate subscription, not part of the plan price Enterprise features (SAML, audit log, EMU) sit behind the top tier

Pricing

As listed on github.com/pricing: Free at $0 (unlimited public and private repositories, 2,000 CI/CD minutes and 500 MB Packages storage per month); Team at $4 per user per month (3,000 minutes, 2 GB Packages, rulesets and code owners); Enterprise at $21 per user per month (50,000 minutes, SAML SSO, audit log, Enterprise Managed Users). The listed Team and Enterprise prices are first-year rates. Copilot is priced separately — see the official pricing page .

Verdict

GitHub is not a choice so much as the ground every other tool stands on. I keep it because the pull request is where my AI-assisted workflow becomes reviewable, and because a client who owns their repository owns their product. The free plan covers almost everything a small team needs.