Even If You’re Not a Developer

If you’ve ever had a developer make changes to your website and something broke — and you couldn’t figure out what changed or how to fix it — this article is for you.

You don’t need to understand code to understand GitHub. You just need to understand why it matters for your business.

What Is GitHub in Plain English?

GitHub is a platform that stores your website’s code and tracks every change ever made to it.

Think of it like Google Docs for your website — but instead of tracking edits to a document, it tracks every change made to your site’s code. Who changed it, what they changed, and when.

Every time your developer makes an update, that change is recorded. If something breaks, you can look back and see exactly what was different.

Why Does This Matter for Your Online Store?

Whether you’re running a Shopify store, a WooCommerce site, or a WordPress website, your business depends on your site working properly.

Without GitHub (or similar version control), when something breaks after a developer update:

• Nobody can easily see what changed
• Rolling back to a working version is difficult or impossible
• You’re relying entirely on your developer’s memory of what they did
• Investigations take longer and cost you more money

With GitHub:

• Every change is logged automatically
• Rolling back to a previous working version takes minutes
• You can see exactly what was deployed and when
• A new developer can pick up where the last one left off

Is This Only for Big Businesses?

No — and this is the most common misconception.

If your website has had any custom development work done — custom features, theme modifications, integrations with third-party tools — you need version control. Full stop.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a one-person operation or a team of fifty. The moment a developer writes custom code for your site, that code needs to be tracked.

Shopify, WordPress, and WooCommerce — What You Need to Know

Shopify merchants: Shopify lets you save up to 20 theme versions, which gives you basic rollback capability for theme changes. This covers a lot of ground for theme-only work. However, if your developer has built custom apps, scripts, or integrations outside the theme — those are not covered by Shopify’s built-in versioning. That’s where GitHub becomes essential.

WordPress and WooCommerce merchants: WordPress has no built-in version control for custom code. If your developer has built custom plugins, modified theme files, or written any custom functionality, none of that is tracked unless they’re using GitHub or a similar tool. This is especially important for WooCommerce stores where custom checkout logic, payment integrations, or product configurations are common.

5 Questions to Ask Your Developer About GitHub

If you’re not sure whether your site’s code is being properly managed, ask your developer these questions:

1. Is our code stored in a GitHub repository? A simple yes or no. If no, ask why not.
2. Who owns the repository? It should be under your account or your business’s account — not your developer’s personal account. If they disappear, you need to be able to access your own code.
3. Do I have owner-level access? Not just view access — owner access. This means you can add or remove collaborators and access the code independently.
4. Is all existing code committed to the repo? Not just new work going forward — all of it. Historical code matters too.
5. Can you show me the commit history? A commit history shows every change made, with dates and descriptions. If they can’t show you this, the code isn’t being tracked properly.

Red Flags to Watch For

• Your developer has been working on your site for years but GitHub was only recently introduced
• The repository is in your developer’s account, not yours
• You can’t access the code without going through your developer
• There’s no record of what changed after a deployment that broke something
• Your developer can’t explain what was done in a recent update

None of these are necessarily signs of bad intent — but they are signs of poor professional practice that puts your business at risk.

What to Do If You Don’t Have This Set Up

1. Raise it with your developer — ask the five questions above and see how they respond
2. Request that a repository is created under your account — this is a reasonable and standard request
3. Ask for all current code to be committed — not just future work
4. Confirm you have owner access — log in and verify yourself

If your developer pushes back on any of these requests without a clear reason, that’s worth taking seriously.

The Bottom Line

Your website is a business asset. The code that runs it should be treated like any other asset — documented, backed up, and accessible to you.

GitHub isn’t a technical luxury. For any business with custom development work, it’s basic professional practice. Knowing about it — and asking the right questions — protects your investment and gives you options if things go wrong.

You don’t need to understand how to use GitHub yourself. You just need to make sure your developer is using it properly on your behalf.