Bitbucket, by Atlassian, is a fantastic tool for managing your code repository. Whether you’re working solo or with a team, Bitbucket helps you to keep track of your projects, control version history, and collaborate smoothly. In this article, we’ll go through the step-by-step process of configuring Bitbucket. But don’t worry – I’ll keep the language simple!

Step 1: Creating an Account

Before you can do anything, you’ll need to have a Bitbucket account.

Go to the Bitbucket website (Bitbucket | Git solution for teams using Jira ).
Click on the ‘Get it free’ button on the homepage.
You can either sign up with an Atlassian account, Google, or Microsoft. Fill in your details and click ‘Sign up.’
Congratulations! You now have a Bitbucket account.

Step 2: Creating a Repository

Next up, we’ll create a repository – or repo for short. This is where your project’s files and their revision history will be stored.

Once you’re logged in, click on the ‘+’ icon on the left sidebar and select ‘Repository.’
Fill in the ‘Repository name.’ Make sure it’s something descriptive, so you’ll remember what’s in there.
You can also add a description (optional) to provide more details about your repo.
Choose ‘This is a private repository’ if you don’t want others to see your code. If you’re okay with it being public, leave the box unchecked.
Under ‘Version control system,’ choose ‘Git’ – it’s the most popular option.
Click on ‘Create repository.’

Step 3: Configuring Repository Settings

Now, let’s configure your repo settings.

Go to your newly created repository and click on ‘Settings’ in the bottom left of the sidebar.
Here, you can modify things like repository details, access permissions, and more.
Under ‘Access Management,’ you can invite team members to your repo and set their permissions (read, write, or admin).
Don’t forget to click ‘Save’ after making changes.

Step 4: Creating and Managing Branches

Branches are a way of working on different tasks in your project without affecting the main (‘master’ or ‘main’) branch. To create a branch:

Go to your repository and click on the ‘Branches’ tab.
Click on the ‘Create branch’ button.
Fill in the ‘Branch name‘ (e.g., ‘feature-add-login’).
Choose the branch it’ll be based on – typically, this is the ‘master’ or ‘main’ branch.
Click on ‘Create.’
To merge a branch back into the main code:

Click on ‘Pull requests’ on the left sidebar, then ‘Create pull request.’
Select your branch in ‘Source,’ and ‘master’ or ‘main’ in ‘Destination.’
Fill in the title and description, then click ‘Create.’
Once reviewed, you or a team member can ‘Merge’ the pull request.

Step 5: Cloning and Pushing Your Repository

Finally, let’s clone the repo to your local machine and push changes back up to Bitbucket.

To clone:

In your repo, click on the ‘Clone’ button.
Copy the provided command.
Open a terminal or command prompt on your computer, navigate to where you want your project, and paste the command. Press enter.
Now, you have a local copy of your repo!

To push changes:

After making changes to your code, open your terminal/command prompt.
Navigate to your project and type git add . This stages all changes for commit.
Commit the changes with git commit -m “Your message here.” Replace ‘Your message here’ with a brief note on what you changed.
Push the changes to Bitbucket with git push origin master (or replace ‘master’ with your branch name).
Congratulations! You’ve now set up Bitbucket, created a repo, managed branches, and cloned and pushed to your repo. Bitbucket can seem a bit complex at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll see how it can make managing your code a whole lot easier. Happy coding!