The working directory

As we have seen in the previous chapters, getting a Git repository on your local computer is as easy as cloning a repository. The folder that serves as your Git repository is a regular folder like any other and is also known as the working directory. The magic trick is the hidden .git folder that has all the data that is necessary for Git to track your files. It allows you to execute commands, such as git status, git add, and git commit. The .git file contains your HEAD, which is basically the current state of your branch. Whenever you move commits, branch, cherry pick, or whatever, the HEAD will know your current state and what it once was. Knowing this, resetting your working directory becomes as easy as resetting your HEAD, as we will see later. It also means that you can move your current branch to another commit simply by editing your HEAD. Now, I do not recommend you go around and edit files in the .git folder, but this is exactly what Git does for you when you execute command through the command line or through other Git clients.