Senior Developers & Tech Leads

GitHub Advanced
for Senior Developers

14 deep-dive phases taking you from solid GitHub user to GitHub platform expert. Git internals, Actions at scale, supply chain security, GitHub Apps and webhooks, Copilot Enterprise, org governance — with real code throughout.

14
Phases
240+
Pages
200+
Code Examples
5
Learning Tracks
Free
Always

Choose Your Learning Track

Not sure where to start? Pick the track that matches your role — each is a curated path through the 14 phases.

Full Course

The complete series from Git internals to enterprise governance. For senior devs who want the full picture.

Phases 1 – 14 + Appendix

Lead / Manager Fast-Track

New tech lead or org admin? Focus on team structure, branch policies, org-wide rules, and compliance.

Phases 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, Appendix

Actions & Automation

DevOps and platform engineers. CI patterns, reusable workflows, OIDC, self-hosted runners, and API automation.

Phases 1, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, Appendix

Security & Compliance

AppSec champions and security engineers. Secret scanning, CodeQL, supply chain (SBOM, Sigstore), and audit log compliance.

Phases 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, Appendix

Release Engineering

SREs and release managers. Semantic versioning, GitHub Packages, ghcr.io, automated releases, and cost governance.

Phases 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, Appendix

Prerequisites

Basic Git (commit, branch, merge) and daily GitHub use (PRs, issues). No CI/CD or API experience needed — each phase builds from first principles.

Ready to start? Begin with Phase 1.

Each phase ends with a "Next Phase" link — you can read straight through or jump to any phase independently.

Start Phase 1 →

All 14 Phases

Click any phase to read it. Each page has a full sidebar with links to every other phase.

1

Git Internals & GitHub's Object Model

Blobs, trees, commits, and tags. How rebase, merge, and cherry-pick differ at the object level. Reflog rescue, interactive rebase, merge strategies, Git LFS, and sparse checkout for monorepos.

GitObject ModelRebaseLFSMonorepo
Read Phase 1 →
2

Repository Architecture & Monorepo Strategy

Polyrepo vs monorepo vs hybrid decision framework. CODEOWNERS-driven ownership, submodules vs subtrees, repository rulesets vs branch protection rules, and automating new-repo setup with templates.

MonorepoCODEOWNERSRulesetsTemplates
Read Phase 2 →
3

Branching Strategies & Code Review Workflows Release Lead

GitFlow vs trunk-based vs GitHub Flow. Feature flags as branch alternatives. CODEOWNERS for required reviewers. Branch protection rules and rulesets. Merge queues and auto-merge.

GitFlowTrunk-BasedMerge QueueBranch Protection
Read Phase 3 →
4

Pull Requests at Depth Release

Multi-template PR setup, review suggestions in bulk, stacked PRs, PR size discipline, protected branches + required reviews, gh CLI for PR workflows, and cycle time metrics.

PR TemplatesStacked PRsgh CLICycle Time
Read Phase 4 →
5

GitHub Actions: Foundations & Architecture Actions Lead

Workflow YAML anatomy, all trigger types, runner comparison, job dependencies and fan-out patterns, context objects, expressions, secrets vs variables, environments with deployment protection, caching, service containers, and debug logging.

WorkflowsRunnersSecretsEnvironmentsCaching
Read Phase 5 →
6

GitHub Actions: Advanced Patterns & Reuse Actions Release Lead

Reusable workflows, composite actions, custom JS and Docker actions, dynamic matrices, concurrency groups, workflow permissions least-privilege, OIDC keyless auth to AWS/GCP/Azure, and ephemeral self-hosted runners with ARC.

Reusable WorkflowsOIDCMatrixARCComposite Actions
Read Phase 6 →
7

Security: Repository & Code Security Security Lead

Dependabot alerts, security updates, and version updates. Secret scanning push protection and custom patterns. Security advisories and CVE IDs. Dependency review action to block high-severity CVEs on PRs.

DependabotSecret ScanningPush ProtectionCVE
Read Phase 7 →
8

Security: Supply Chain & Advanced Scanning Security Lead

Software supply chain threat model. CodeQL and SARIF. Third-party SAST tools (Semgrep, Snyk, Trivy). Artifact attestations, SBOM generation, Sigstore/cosign for container signing, and OpenSSF Scorecard.

CodeQLSBOMSigstoreSARIFSupply Chain
Read Phase 8 →
9

Organization & Team Management Lead Security

Org structure, nested teams, SSO (SAML/OIDC), fine-grained PATs, OAuth Apps vs GitHub Apps, org-level rulesets, Enterprise Managed Users, audit log streaming, and billing insights.

SSOFine-grained PATsEMUAudit LogBilling
Read Phase 9 →
10

Releases, Tags & GitHub Packages Release Actions

SemVer, annotated vs signed tags, GitHub Releases with auto-generated notes, release-please and semantic-release, git-cliff changelogs, GitHub Packages (npm, Maven, Docker, NuGet), ghcr.io, and package retention policies.

SemVerGitHub Packagesghcr.ioChangelogs
Read Phase 10 →
11

GitHub Projects & Engineering Metrics Actions Release

Projects v2 board/table/roadmap views, custom fields, workflow automation, milestones vs Projects, YAML issue templates, label taxonomy at scale, DORA metrics via GraphQL, Insights tab, and third-party analytics tools.

Projects v2DORA MetricsIssue TemplatesGraphQL
Read Phase 11 →
12

GitHub CLI & API Automation Actions

gh auth, config, extensions, and aliases. Scripting with --json/--jq. REST API v3 pagination. GraphQL API v4 with cursor pagination and mutations. Octokit SDK with throttling. GitHub Apps JWT auth. Webhook HMAC verification and smee.io. Four ready-to-ship automation bots.

gh CLIREST APIGraphQLOctokitGitHub AppsWebhooks
Read Phase 12 →
13

GitHub Copilot & AI-Assisted Development Lead

Copilot tier comparison (Individual / Business / Enterprise). Chat slash commands and @workspace/@vscode agents. PR description generation, Autofix, and Copilot Workspace. Content exclusions, responsible use, ROI metrics, and copilot-instructions.md prompt engineering.

CopilotCopilot ChatAutofixWorkspacePrompt Engineering
Read Phase 13 →
14

Governance, Compliance & Enterprise Patterns Lead Security

GHES vs GHEC feature gaps and migration. Org-wide Actions policies, IP allow lists, and required workflows. SOC 2, HIPAA, and FedRAMP shared responsibility. Audit log streaming to SIEM. CODEOWNERS as access control. CLA management. Inner source patterns. Actions cost governance.

GHESSOC 2Required WorkflowsInner SourceCost Control
Read Phase 14 →
A

Appendix — Reference Cards

GitHub search syntax cheat sheet, Actions expressions & context reference, gh CLI command reference, branch protection vs rulesets comparison table, REST API quick-reference, security features decision tree, and SemVer + conventional commits guide.

Cheat SheetsReferenceQuick Reference
View Appendix →

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