Git was created in 2005 by Linus Torvalds to maintain the development of the Linux Kernel when BitKeeper became a paid-for tool to Linux maintainers. Git is a distributed versioning system that is made available as open-source software.

Previously, version control followed a client-server model: meaning the code was kept on a single repository on a central server. Distributed versioning system, such as Git, allows for a copy of the current code version to reside on each developer's device. Git specifically focuses on allowing the coordination of large projects during software development.

Git enables tracking changes while preserving data incorruptibility, speed, and non-linear distributed development. Today start-ups, open-source projects, and large corporations use Git to keep their software development organized. Stack Overflow survey in 2018 showed that 88.4% of developers used Git for source control. In addition, two of the most popular source code hosting services in 2021, Github & Gitlab, exclusively use git version control, with only Bitbucket, from the popular options, also including Mercurial.