GitHub Install Guide | The Four Languages

What is GitHub?

GitHub is a website that stores files, like Google Drive for projects. Your Four Languages starter system lives on GitHub. You will download it once, and from there it lives on your computer.

You do not need to understand code or programming. You will use a few simple commands in Terminal, and this guide walks you through every single one.

What is a Repository?

A repository (or "repo") is just a project folder on GitHub. It contains all the files for a project, plus a complete history of every change ever made to those files.

Think of it like this:

A regular folder on your computer = just files
A repository = files + a complete history of every version of those files

The Four Languages starter system is a repository. When you download it, you get all the files. When you set up your own backup (Lesson 5), you get the version history too.

Key Terms (Just Three)

📥 Clone

Download a copy of a repository from GitHub to your computer. You do this once.

📤 Push

Send your changes from your computer up to GitHub. This is how you back up your work.

📥 Pull

Download the latest version from GitHub to your computer. This is how you get updates.

Why We Use GitHub

🏠 1. Your System Lives on YOUR Computer

You download the template once, and it lives on your machine. You work locally. You own your files. Nothing depends on a platform staying online.

🔒 2. You Control What Gets Backed Up

In Lesson 5, you will create your own private repository. You choose exactly which files to push there. Your root file, your skills, your learnings: safe to push. Personal data like CRM contacts, journal entries, or .env files: keep those local only. The template comes with a .gitignore file that helps with this automatically.

🛡️ 3. Your Work Has a Safety Net

When you push to your private repo, your system files exist in two places: your computer and GitHub. If anything happens to your machine, your system structure is safe.

💡 You Don't Need to Become a Developer

GitHub was made for developers, but you are using maybe 5% of what it can do. Clone, push, pull. That is it. And most of the time, you will just ask Claude to do it for you.

Create Your GitHub Account

If you already have a GitHub account, skip ahead to Lesson 3. If not, here is how to set one up. It takes about two minutes.

Step by Step

Go to github.com/signup and click "Sign Up"

Use your personal email. The same one you used to purchase the course.

Choose a username. This will be visible to others, so keep it professional. Your real name or a simple handle works well.

Free account is all you need. No paid plan required. Do not upgrade.

Verify your email address by clicking the link GitHub sends you.

Request Access to the Starter System

The starter system repository is private, so we need to give you access. Send us your GitHub username and we will add you within 24 hours.

Send access request

⏳ While You Wait for Access

If you have not installed Claude Code yet, now is a good time. Head to the Claude Code Install Guide and complete that while you wait for your GitHub access to be approved.

Download Your Starter System

Video walkthrough: accepting your invite, downloading the ZIP, and setting up your folder.

Once you have received access (you will get a GitHub notification email), you are ready to download. There are two ways. Pick whichever feels more comfortable.

Option A: Download as ZIP (Easiest)

This is the simplest way. No terminal commands needed for this step.

Go to the starter system page: github.com/maantie/the-four-languages-root-system

Click the green "Code" button, then click "Download ZIP". A zip file will download to your computer.

Unzip the file. Double-click it to extract it. You will see a folder called the-four-languages-root-system-main.

Rename it. Give it a short, simple name with no spaces. Use dashes instead of spaces. Examples: my-business, my-system, or your business name like anna-coaching.

Move it to your home folder. On Mac, that is /Users/yourname/. On Windows, that is C:\Users\yourname\. Your Desktop also works. The key is knowing where it is, because Claude Code needs to open from inside this folder.

Option B: Clone with Terminal (Recommended)

If you have already set up your terminal (from the Claude Code Install Guide), cloning is faster and sets up version history automatically.

Open Terminal. Mac: Cmd+Space, type "Terminal". Windows: search for "PowerShell".

Run these commands. Replace my-business with whatever you want to call your folder.

# Go to your home folder
cd ~

# Clone the starter system
git clone https://github.com/maantie/the-four-languages-root-system.git my-business

# Enter the folder
cd my-business

Verify It Worked

Whether you used ZIP or clone, open Terminal and navigate to your folder:

# Navigate to your folder (replace my-business with your folder name)
cd ~/my-business

# List the contents
ls

You should see folders like soul/, mind/, heart/, body/, context/, guides/ and files like CLAUDE.md. If you see these, you are ready.

📂 Where Should You Put the Folder?

Your home folder is the easiest location. Every time you want to work, you will type cd ~/my-business then claude in Terminal. That is your daily start. Shorter folder name = less typing.

Your Folder Structure

Here is what you just downloaded. Every folder has a purpose, and each one maps to one of the four languages.

Your Four Languages System

📁my-business

📁soul - purpose, meaning, reflective practices

📁mind - strategy, planning, projects, content

📁heart - relationships, community, CRM

📁body - energy, movement, daily build log

📁context - your memory system

📁guides - step-by-step guides for each module

📁.claude - skills and rules (Claude reads these)

📄CLAUDE.md - your root file (the most important file)

Each Folder Has a README

Every language folder (soul/, mind/, heart/, body/) contains a README.md file. This is a guide that explains what belongs in that folder and how it connects to the rest of your system.

You do not need to read these yourself. When you start Claude Code inside your project folder, Claude sees all of these files. You can say things like:

"Walk me through my folder structure."
"What goes in the heart folder?"
"Explain how my memory system works."

Claude will read the README files and explain everything in plain language. That is the point: you do not need to memorize this structure. Claude knows it.

The Guides Folder

The guides/ folder contains 16+ detailed step-by-step guides. Each guide matches a course module. When you reach that module, Claude will reference the guide automatically.

You can also ask Claude to walk you through any guide at any time:

"Walk me through guide 00, getting started."
"What guides do I have?"

The guides cover everything from terminal basics to setting up integrations, building your website, and configuring your CRM. They are written for complete beginners.

CLAUDE.md: Your Root File

This is the most important file in your entire system. Claude reads it every time you start a session. It is your map: it tells Claude who you are, where everything lives, and how you work.

You will build and customize this file throughout Part 1 of the course. By the end, it will be a complete instruction manual for Claude, written by you, in your words.

✨ What Makes This Different from Other AI Tools

Most AI tools start from zero every conversation. Your root file means Claude starts every session already knowing who you are, what you are building, and how you like to work. The longer you use it, the more powerful it becomes.

The Context Folder: Your Memory System

The context/ folder is where Claude stores what it learns about you. It has different layers, from temporary to permanent:

1. Scratchpads (working desk)

Temporary thinking and draft reasoning. For multi-step problems, research notes, planning. Reviewed every Monday. Kept if still needed, otherwise cleared.

2. Session Learnings (flat file)

What Claude learned during a session. Written automatically when you save. Reviewed together every Monday. You decide what stays, what gets promoted to facts, what gets cleared.

3. Patterns (observed behaviors)

Things Claude notices about your choices, energy, and wording. Written during saves, mirrored back during evening review. You confirm or dismiss each one. Confirmed patterns can become permanent facts.

4. Facts (permanent)

Things that are always true about you. Your identity, preferences, constraints, and important decisions. Claude reads these every session. They stay until you change them.

5. History (daily logs)

An immutable daily record of what you did, decided, and reflected on. Never deleted. This is your system's long-term memory.

The .claude Folder: Skills and Rules

The .claude/ folder is hidden (the dot at the start means it does not show up by default). It contains two things:

⚡ Skills (commands/)

Your starter system comes with 40+ pre-built skills. Skills are instructions that tell Claude how to do a specific task. You do not need to read or edit them. You type a skill name (like /morning or /save-session) and Claude follows the instructions.

📋 Rules (rules/)

Rules that Claude always follows. Things like your brand colors, writing style, and safety rules. These load automatically every session.

Create Your Private Backup

What this looks like in practice: creating your private repo, connecting, and pushing, all with Claude.

Right now, the starter system only exists on your computer. If anything happens to your machine, it is gone. In this lesson, you will create your own private repository on GitHub as a backup.

This is separate from the template you downloaded. The template is ours. Your private repo is yours.

Step 0: Install the GitHub CLI (one-time setup)

Before you can push anything to GitHub from your terminal, you need a small tool called the GitHub CLI (the command is gh). It handles the login between your machine and your GitHub account. You only do this once, ever.

Claude may prompt you to install this automatically during Step 2. If so, follow its instructions and skip ahead to Step 1. If you prefer to set it up yourself first, keep reading.

Check if it is already installed. Open Terminal and run:

gh --version

If you see a version number, you are done with this step, skip to Step 1. If you see command not found: gh, keep going.

The easiest way to install gh on a Mac is with Homebrew. Most Macs already have Homebrew. Check by running:

brew --version

If Homebrew is not installed, paste this into Terminal and press Enter (this is the official Homebrew installer, it will ask for your Mac password):

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Once Homebrew is installed, install the GitHub CLI:

brew install gh

Now log in:

gh auth login

This will walk you through a few questions. The simplest path:

Choose GitHub.com

Choose HTTPS as the preferred protocol

When asked to authenticate Git with your GitHub credentials, type Y and press Enter

Choose Login with a web browser

The terminal will show you a one-time code. Copy it. Then press Enter to open your browser, paste the code there, and authorize GitHub

You will see a confirmation in the terminal that says you are now logged in as your username. That is it. You will never have to do this again on this computer.

👀 If you get stuck on this

The terminal-to-browser handoff trips a lot of people up the first time. If anything looks wrong, take a screenshot of your terminal window (Cmd + Shift + 4), drag it into your Claude Code conversation, and just type "what is happening?". Claude will read the error and tell you the next step. This is the single most useful debugging trick in the whole course, and you will use it constantly.

Step 1: Create a New Repository on GitHub

Go to github.com/new

Name it whatever you called your folder (e.g. my-business)

Set it to Private. This is important. Your system files should not be public.

Do NOT check any boxes (no README, no .gitignore, no license). Leave everything empty.

Click "Create repository"

Step 2: Connect Your Folder and Push

Open Claude Code inside your project folder. Then tell Claude what you want to do:

"Connect this folder to my private GitHub repo and push everything there.
Here is the link: https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/my-business"

Paste your actual repository URL from Step 1. Claude will handle the rest: disconnecting from the template, connecting to your repo, staging your files, and pushing.

If Claude asks you to install something (like the GitHub CLI), follow its instructions. It may open a browser window for you to authorize GitHub. This only happens once.

👀 If you see something unexpected

The video above shows what this process looks like in a real session, including permission prompts and errors that come up along the way. If your screen looks different from the written steps, check the video. Most variations are normal.

💡 What Just Happened?

Claude disconnected your local folder from the template repository and connected it to your own private one. From now on, when you push changes, they go to your private backup.

Step 3: Verify It Worked

Go to github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/my-business in your browser. You should see all your folders (soul, mind, heart, body, context, guides) and your CLAUDE.md file. If you see them, your backup is live.

If only some files appear (for example, just CLAUDE.md), take a screenshot of your GitHub page, drag it into Claude, and say "not all my files are here, can you push the rest?". Claude will fix it.

📋 What Claude is doing behind the scenes (reference)

You do not need to type these commands. Claude runs them for you. This is here so you can see what is happening if you are curious.

# If you used ZIP download, Claude initializes git first
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial setup from Four Languages template"

# Disconnect from the template
git remote remove origin

# Connect to your private repo
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/my-business.git

# Push everything
git push -u origin main

⚠️ Do Not Skip This Lesson

Without your own private repo, your work only exists on your computer. Your private repo is your backup. It takes five minutes to set up and could save you from losing months of work.

If your first push fails (it might, and that is fine)

The first time you push, things sometimes go wrong. The error messages look scary but they are almost never serious.

🛟 The universal fix

Screenshot the terminal window with Cmd + Shift + 4, drag the screenshot into your Claude Code conversation, and type "what is happening?". Claude reads errors better than humans do. You do not need to memorize anything. This works for every error in this course and every error you will hit later.

Here are the most common errors, in case you want to know what they mean:

"src refspec main does not match any" or "nothing to commit"

There is nothing in your local folder for git to push yet. Tell Claude: "My first push failed with 'nothing to commit'. Can you fix it?"

"Authentication failed" or "could not read username"

The GitHub CLI login from Step 0 did not finish. Tell Claude: "I am getting an authentication error when pushing to GitHub." Claude will walk you through the login again.

"Updates were rejected" / "non-fast-forward"

Your private repo on GitHub already has something in it (usually because you checked the README box when you created it). The fastest fix is to delete the repo on GitHub, create a new one with all the boxes unchecked, and tell Claude to try again.

Push, Pull, and Back Up

Now that your private repository is set up, here is how to use it day to day. There are two ways: the easy way (ask Claude) and the manual way (type commands yourself).

The Easy Way: Ask Claude

At the end of any session, just tell Claude:

"Push my changes to git."

Claude will stage the right files, write a commit message, and push to your private repo. This is the recommended way. You do not need to remember any commands.

The Manual Way

If you want to do it yourself, here is how. These are the only commands you will ever need.

Pushing: Backing Up Your Work

"Pushing" means sending your local changes up to GitHub. Think of it like clicking "Save to cloud."

# Go to your folder
cd ~/my-business

# Stage specific files you changed
git add CLAUDE.md context/memory/learnings.md context/memory/patterns.md

# Create a snapshot with a message
git commit -m "Updated root file and session learnings"

# Push to your private repo
git push origin main

Breaking this down:

git add [files] tells git which files you want to include in this snapshot
git commit -m "message" creates the snapshot with a description of what changed
git push origin main sends it to GitHub

Pulling: Getting Updates

"Pulling" means downloading the latest version from GitHub to your computer. If you work from multiple computers, or if someone else pushes changes, pull first.

# Get the latest version from GitHub
git pull origin main

🕐 When to Pull

If you only work from one computer, you rarely need to pull. Your local files are already up to date because you are the only one pushing. Pull is mainly useful if you work from more than one machine.

Checking What Changed

Not sure what you changed since your last backup? These commands help:

# See which files changed
git status

# See the actual changes in those files
git diff

Or just ask Claude: "What files have I changed since my last commit?"

What to Push (and What Not To)

The template includes a .gitignore file that automatically excludes sensitive files from being pushed. But here is the general rule:

✅ Safe to Push

Your root file (CLAUDE.md)
Fact files (context/memory/fact/)
Session learnings (context/memory/learnings.md)
Patterns about you (context/memory/patterns.md)
Skills you have customized (.claude/commands/)
Guides and project files

🚫 Do NOT Push

.env files (contains API keys and secrets)
CRM files with real names and emails
Private journal entries or personal reflections
Anything with other people's personal details

💾 Make Backups a Habit

At the end of every session, ask Claude to push your changes. Your system files are only safe when they exist in more than one place. It takes 10 seconds and could save you from losing months of work.

🎉 You're All Set!

You have your repository, you understand the structure, and you know how to back up your work. Head to Part 1 and start building your system.

Start Part 1

✨

Guide Complete!

You finished all 6 lessons. Your repository is ready.