How to move your codebase into GitHub for analysis by ChatGPT Deep Research – and why you should
David Gewirtz / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETA few days ago, I showed you an amazing new ChatGPT feature available to paying users. Plus, Pro, and Team tier users can now point Deep Research at an entire GitHub repo and get back analysis reports. Also: I test a lot of AI coding tools, and this stunning new OpenAI release just saved me days of workAs I showed, this capability helps speed up the process of coming up to speed on existing codebases. You might need to do this if you acquire a product from another developer or if you’re brought onto a project and need to learn the codebase quickly. It’s also good for reviewing your own codebase and refreshing yourself on how sections work — especially if you’ve moved on to other things for a while and are now coming back to the original code. I promised I’d show you how to bring a codebase into GitHub specifically for analysis by Deep Research. That’s what we’re about to do in this article. Moving my code into GitHub To demonstrate this, I’m moving My Private Site into GitHub. My Private Site is a freemium WordPress plugin with about 20,000 active users I’ve been working on for about a decade. WordPress, for historical reasons, uses SVN instead of GitHub as a code repository, so I haven’t really had a need to put My Private Site into GitHub. Also: I put GitHub Copilot’s AI to the test – its mixed success at coding baffled meBut given the opportunity to perform deep analysis on it, I decided to set it up. I’ll go through that process with you here. Getting started with GitHub Desktop Before we start, let’s clarify some things. Git is a distributed version control system that runs on a programmer’s local computer. GitHub is a cloud-based service that stores an enormous library of open-source and proprietary coding projects. Those projects are moved into GitHub (the cloud service) using Git (the tool). Real programmers only use Git on the command line, where it’s known as git. No real programmer would dare to capitalize git. Real programmers command git via a range of options, creating specialized command lines that do their bidding. Failure to use git on the command line will result in your real-programmer card being revoked by the International Society of Programmers Who Are Smarter Than You. Also: How I used GitHub Spark to build an app with just a one-sentence AI promptI am apparently not a real programmer. I might as well get that out of the way before the comments erupt in disdainful RPs (real programmers) mocking my lack of command-line acuity. I don’t use Git via the command line. I don’t like it. I believe humans left the cave long ago and adopted graphical user interfaces as tools of civilized society. I, therefore, prefer using GitHub Desktop, which is a point-and-click version of Git for those not worthy of the title real programmer. And yes, my official real-programmer card has been revoked. I can live with it. You can download GitHub Desktop here. More