Git, GitLab, GitHub: terminology map

Three vocabularies describe the same work: Git's, GitLab's and GitHub's. This page sets them side by side. For definitions rather than translations, use the glossary; for what actually differs beyond names, read GitLab vs GitHub.

Containers and people

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
The versioned files and history	Repository	Project	Repository
Grouping several of them	—	Group, and subgroup (nests)	Organization (does not nest)
Grouping people	—	Group membership	Team (nests)
Your own copy of someone else's	Clone	Clone	Clone
A server-side copy you can push to	—	Fork	Fork
Contributor role	—	Developer	Write
Runs the project's settings	—	Maintainer	Admin
Read-only participant	—	Guest or Reporter	Read
Manages issues without pushing	—	Planner or Reporter	Triage
Owns and can delete	—	Owner	Admin

Tracking work

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
A unit of work	—	Issue	Issue
A named goal with dates	—	Milestone	Milestone
Grouping issues visually	—	Issue board	Projects
A larger container of issues	—	Epic	Parent issue or a Project field
Free-form conversation	—	Issue or wiki	Discussion
Tagging for filtering	—	Label	Label
Repeating time box	—	Iteration	Iteration field on a Project

Proposing and reviewing a change

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
A line of work	Branch	same	same
Proposing to merge it	—	Merge request	Pull request
Not ready yet	—	`Draft:` title prefix	Draft state
Where the change is going	—	Target branch	Base
What is being proposed	—	Source branch	Compare
The diff view	`git diff`	Changes tab	Files changed tab
Commit list	`git log`	Commits tab	Commits tab
Automated results	—	Pipelines tab	Checks tab
Batched review	—	Start a review	Start a review
Blocking verdict	—	Unresolved threads	Request changes
Proposed replacement text	—	Suggestion	Suggested change
Applying it	—	Apply suggestion	Commit suggestion
Required reviewer by path	—	`CODEOWNERS`	`CODEOWNERS`
Combining into one commit	—	Squash	Squash and merge

Rules on branches

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
A branch nobody may push to directly	—	Protected branch	Ruleset, or a branch protection rule
Requiring review	—	Approval rules	Require approvals
Requiring green automation	—	Pipelines must succeed	Require status checks
Forbidding history rewriting	—	Force push disabled	Block force pushes
Extra commit content rules	—	Push rules	Rules in a ruleset

Automation

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
The whole automated run	—	Pipeline	Workflow run
Its definition file	—	`.gitlab-ci.yml`	`.github/workflows/*.yml`
A phase	—	Stage	Job dependencies (`needs`)
A unit of work	—	Job	Job
A command inside it	—	A line in `script`	A step
A reusable piece	—	`include`, templates	Action
The machine	—	Runner	Runner
Files kept afterwards	—	Artifact	Artifact
A secret for the run	—	CI/CD variable (masked, protected)	Actions secret

Releases

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
A permanent name for a commit	Tag	same	same
The page describing a version	—	Release (Deploy → Releases)	Release (Releases)
Drafting one	—	New release	Draft a new release
Auto-written notes	—	From the attached milestone	Generate release notes
Unfinished version	—	Upcoming release	Pre-release

Credentials

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
A password substitute for HTTPS	—	Personal access token	Personal access token (fine-grained or classic)
Key-based identity	—	SSH key	SSH key
A credential for one project	—	Project access token	Fine-grained token scoped to it, or a GitHub App
A key for one repository, no person	—	Deploy key or deploy token	Deploy key
The automatic token in a run	—	`CI_JOB_TOKEN`	`GITHUB_TOKEN`

Writing and editing

Concept	Git	GitLab	GitHub
Editing one file in the browser	—	Edit	Edit (pencil)
A full editor in the browser	—	Web IDE (press .)	github.dev (press .)
A cloud machine that can run code	—	Remote development	Codespaces
A shareable fragment	—	Snippet	Gist
Free-form pages	—	Wiki	Wiki
Published static site	—	GitLab Pages	GitHub Pages

Phrase book

Instructions written for one platform, translated:

Written as	Means on the other
"Open an MR against main"	"Open a pull request with base `main`"
"Make them a Maintainer" (GitLab)	"Make them an Admin" (GitHub), not "Maintain"
"Give them Write" (GitHub)	"Give them Developer" (GitLab)
"The pipeline is red"	"A check failed"
"Add it to the board"	"Add it to the Project"
"Resolve the threads"	"Resolve the conversations"
"Apply the suggestion"	"Commit the suggestion"
"It is in a subgroup"	No equivalent; it is a repository in the organization
"Set a CI variable"	"Add an Actions secret"
"Draft: in the title"	"Mark it as a draft"

What never changes

Git itself. clone, add, commit, push, pull, fetch, branch, switch, merge, rebase, tag, log, diff, status, restore, reset, revert, stash and reflog behave identically no matter which platform hosts the remote. A remote is a URL; your repository does not know what is at the other end of it.