your code needs a home.

Your copy of unparty-app lives on GitHub. It is where you receive it, where every change you make gets saved with its history, and where your live site gets published from. You do not need to know how to code, or even what git is, to finish this step. You need an account, and you need it locked down, because soon it will hold your business.

• Receives your copy — your repository gets shared to your GitHub account
• Remembers everything — every change is saved as a commit you can look back at, compare, or undo
• Publishes your site — Vercel watches your repository and deploys whenever it changes
• Keeps it private — free accounts include private repositories, so no one sees your code unless you invite them

Go to github.com/signup. If you already have a GitHub account, sign in and skip to two-factor authentication. GitHub asks for three things:

• Email — use one you will keep for years, like your business email. Password resets and security alerts go here
• Password — long and unique. A password manager (1Password, Bitwarden, Apple Passwords) will make and remember one for you
• Username — this is the one that matters. It is public, and it becomes part of the web address for your code: github.com/your-username/your-repo. Short, lowercase, and something you would say out loud to a customer

GitHub emails you a code to verify the address, then asks a few questions about how you plan to use it. Choose the Free plan. Nothing in the setup curriculum needs a paid GitHub plan.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) means signing in takes your password and a code from your phone. Your repository is about to hold your website, your content, and the settings that connect it to services you pay for. A stolen password alone should not be enough to get in. GitHub will ask you to turn it on eventually anyway, so do it now while you are here:

1. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner, then Settings
2. In the left sidebar, open Password and authentication
3. Under Two-factor authentication, click Enable two-factor authentication
4. Scan the QR code with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, 1Password, or the one built into Apple Passwords)
5. Type the 6-digit code the app shows to confirm

Right after you enable 2FA, GitHub shows you a list of recovery codes. If you ever lose or replace your phone, these codes are the only way back into your account. Download them and keep them somewhere that is not your phone: your password manager, or printed and filed with your business paperwork.

Later steps give you keys and passwords for your database, sign-in, and payments. Those never belong in your repository, even a private one. Your copy of unparty-app already keeps them out for you:

• Keys live in one file called .env on your computer, and in Vercel's settings for your live site
• Your copy is set up so git ignores every .env file, which means they are never uploaded
• If you ever paste a key into a regular file by accident and push it, treat that key as leaked: create a new one in that service and delete the old one

If you add an LLM partner in the next step, this is a good first conversation. Paste in what you see and ask for the next click:

• You can sign in to GitHub with your password and a code from your phone
• Your recovery codes are saved somewhere that is not your phone
• You know your username. You will need it in Get your copy, where your repository gets shared to it

That is the whole step. Next, you can add an LLM partner to help with everything after this, or go straight to getting your copy. Either way, your code has a home now, and it is yours.