Boost Your GitHub DX

😸 Released Tuesday, 11th November 2025! See the announcement post.

💰 Release/Black Friday discount: 50% off, from $44 to $22, until the 1st December

This is a book about using GitHub more effectively, touring you through the fundamental features with my experience-based commentary. It covers settings, keyboard shortcuts, hidden features, syntax, techniques, CLI commands, and even improving your writing. These tools will help you collaborate more effectively with your team and deliver higher-quality software faster.

This book is aimed at anyone using GitHub on a daily basis, assuming you have some familiarity with GitHub and Git and want to go deeper.

Free sample

Download the free sample to read the introduction and first two chapters.

Contents

The book contains 11 chapters, summarized below. See the release post for a full table of contents and links to sample content.

1. Global features
   High-level features like keyboard shortcuts, global pages like the main dashboard and issues and pull request dashboards, the command palette, and the Refined GitHub browser extension.
2. gh: the GitHub CLI
   An introduction to GitHub’s official command line tool, with further commands covered throughout the book.
3. Repositories
   Settings and features for repositories that you may not have known about.
4. Files
   GitHub’s surprisingly capable web-based file browser.
5. Commits
   The commit details view page.
6. GitHub-Flavored Markdown
   A tour of the most useful syntax and how to use it.
7. Writing
   Collaborate better by improving your technical writing.
8. Issues
   All about GitHub’s general-purpose task system.
9. Pull requests
   Present or review commits and get them merged.
10. GitHub Actions
    Tips for day-to-day usage of existing workflows.
11. gh api: use GitHub’s APIs
    Go beyond the default CLI with the REST and GraphQL APIs.

FAQ

Who are you?

Hi, I'm Adam Johnson, @adamchainz on GitHub. I'm an author and solo consultant working with Django and Python.

I have used GitHub daily since 2012, maintaining dozens of open source repositories and contributing to many more.

What's included?

A PDF watermarked with your email address, an ePub, an AZW3 file (Kindle), and a resources zip file containing all the code examples.

Will you do a printed version?

Unfortunately, I can’t afford to do print versions right now.

Do you offer any discounts?

Gumroad’s purchasing power parity feature will automatically offer you a discount based on your location.

Outside of that, I offer occasional seasonal discounts. Follow my blog, Mastodon, or Bluesky to be notified of these.

Can I get an invoice?

Gumroad will send you a receipt with a "generate" button to turn it into an invoice so you can make your employer pay!

Can I purchase with an alternative method (e.g. direct bank transfer)?

Due to accounting limitations, I can only sell my product on Gumroad. If it doesn't work for you, please try emailing Gumroad support (support@gumroad.com) and CC'ing me.

Praise

“I had the pleasure and privilege of being a beta reader for Adam Johnson's Boost Your GitHub DX and it's a fab read whether you're a new or experienced GitHub user - would heartily recommend!”
—Kristian Glass on LinkedIn