AI Hackathon Tutorial: Using GitHub for Your Project

What is GitHub and Why Do You Need It for Your AI Hackathon Project?

GitHub is an essential platform for developers and teams working on coding projects. It enables seamless collaboration by allowing users to share code and work together, regardless of geographical location. For AI hackathons, GitHub is particularly valuable as many participants often come from various parts of the world. It provides easy access to code for collaborative work and project management.

Why Join Lablab.ai for AI Hackathons?

Lablab.ai is more than just a platform; it’s a thriving community of builders, creators, and innovators passionate about artificial intelligence. Whether you’re utilizing the ChatGPT API, Stable Diffusion API, or any other generative AI tools, Lablab.ai encourages you to innovate and tackle real-world problems.

Getting Started: Creating Your GitHub Repository

Creating a GitHub repository is the first step in your hackathon project. A repository is essentially a project folder that houses your code and related files. Here’s how to create one:

1. Create a GitHub account (you can do this here).
2. Once your account is set up, click the “+” icon in the top right corner and select “New repository.”
3. Enter a name for your repository, then click the “Create repository” button.

Congratulations! You can now start adding files to your repository. Click “Add file” and select “Upload files,” or use Git commands to add files to your repository. For a detailed guide on Git commands, check out this Git tutorial.

How to Add Collaborators to Your GitHub Repository

Adding team members as collaborators allows them to work on your project. Follow these steps to add collaborators:

1. Open your repository and click on “Settings.”
2. Select “Manage access” and click on “Invite a colleague.”
3. Enter the team member’s GitHub username and press “Add collaborator.”

After sending the invitation, your teammate will receive an email to accept the invitation and gain access to collaborate on the repository.

Using .gitignore to Protect Your Keys

When working on any project, safeguarding your private keys is crucial. Exposing your private keys on GitHub is akin to sharing your passwords with the public. Thankfully, a .gitignore file can help you manage what files to ignore from your repository:

1. Create a .gitignore file by clicking “Add file” then “Create new file.”
2. Name it .gitignore and specify which files should be ignored. For example, to ignore a file named env, simply add env to your .gitignore.

Utilize wildcards to ignore multiple files (e.g., *.env ignores all files with the .env extension). You can also ignore entire folders like node_modules by adding it to your .gitignore file.

Hosting Your Project Using Streamlit, Replit, and Vercel

During your AI hackathon, you’ll want to host your project effectively. Below are some tools you can choose from based on your project needs:

• Streamlit: Ideal for building web applications with Python.
• Replit: Great for running your code online collaboratively.
• Vercel: Perfect for hosting your web application.

All these platforms are free and allow you to host your AI hackathon project, enabling collaboration and making your project accessible to the world. Your goal during the hackathon is to create a working prototype that can kickstart your future startup.

Thanks for reading! Happy coding, and good luck with your AI hackathon project!