MERN Course: Git & Deployment Essentials

Introduction

Version control and deployment are non-negotiable MERN skills. This post completes the Git Essentials week with commands you will use daily, collaboration patterns, and deployment best practices.

Course Reference

Quick index

Week 5: Git, GitHub & Static Deployments

1. Mastering Version Control with Git

Git tracks every change in your codebase. Commits are snapshots; branches let you work on features without breaking main.

• git init — start a repository
• git add + git commit — stage and snapshot changes
• git branch / git checkout — isolate feature work
• git merge — combine branches (resolve conflicts carefully)

Example:

# Start tracking a MERN project
git init
git add .
git commit -m "feat: initial portfolio setup"
 
# Feature branch workflow
git checkout -b feature/blog-mdx
# ... make changes ...
git add content/mern/
git commit -m "feat: add MERN course blog posts"
git checkout main
git merge feature/blog-mdx

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2. Collaborative Coding with GitHub

GitHub hosts remote repositories. SSH keys authenticate pushes. Pull requests propose changes; code review catches bugs before merge.

Example:

# Generate SSH key (one-time)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"
 
# Clone and push
git clone git@github.com:rahmat058/kazi-rahamatullah.git
cd kazi-rahamatullah
git push -u origin main
 
# Fork workflow: push to your fork, open PR to upstream

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3. Deploying Static Sites (GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel)

Static sites serve pre-built HTML/CSS/JS from a CDN. Git-connected platforms rebuild on every push — zero manual FTP uploads.

• GitHub Pages — free hosting for static HTML from a branch or /docs
• Netlify — drag-and-drop or Git deploys with form handling and redirects
• Vercel — optimized for Next.js with edge network and preview URLs per PR

Example:

# vercel.json — optional redirects
{
  "redirects": [
    { "source": "/old-blog/:slug", "destination": "/blog/:slug", "permanent": true }
  ]
}
 
# Deploy Next.js (this portfolio)
pnpm build
vercel --prod

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