By now you have a CLAUDE.md and a MEMORY.md. These files are valuable — they represent real work you put into configuring your AI workspace for your Amazon business. This module covers how to protect them, version them, and optionally share them with a VA or business partner.

The tool for this is GitHub. And despite its developer reputation, what you need from GitHub is simple: a safe, versioned backup of your workspace files.

What GitHub Is (and What You Actually Need From It)

GitHub is a website that stores copies of folders — called repositories — and tracks every change you make to the files inside them. Every time you save a new version, it keeps the history. If you accidentally delete or break something, you can go back.

Developers use GitHub for complex collaboration and code management. You are going to use it for one thing: backing up and versioning your Amazon AI workspace.

You do not need to understand git commands beyond the basics. VS Code has built-in GitHub support that handles everything visually.

Why This Matters for Your Amazon AI Workspace

Insurance policy

Your CLAUDE.md and MEMORY.md represent configuration work. If your computer dies, your workspace is on GitHub. If you make a change that breaks something, you can restore the previous version. Without GitHub, that work lives only on one machine.

Version history

When you update your CLAUDE.md — change a PPC target, add a new ASIN, update your brand voice — GitHub keeps the previous version. You can see what changed and when. Six months from now, you will know what your PPC strategy looked like in January.

Collaboration without emailing files

If you work with a VA, a business partner, or a PPC manager, you can give them access to your GitHub repository. They can see your CLAUDE.md and MEMORY.md, contribute their own notes, and stay in sync — without anyone emailing files back and forth.

Getting Started: Free Resources

GitHub provides two excellent free guides for complete beginners — no command line required:

• GitHub Hello World Tutorial — The official GitHub beginner guide. Covers repositories, branches, and commits. No coding, no command line. Takes about 10 minutes.
• GitHub Skills: Introduction to GitHub — An interactive hands-on course. Under one hour, no prerequisites. Teaches GitHub basics by having you do them inside GitHub itself.

Either guide will get you set up. If you have never used GitHub before, start with the Hello World tutorial — it is the fastest.

The Basic Workflow

Once your workspace is connected to GitHub, the workflow is three steps:

1. Stage: Tell GitHub which files you changed (VS Code does this visually)
2. Commit: Save a snapshot with a short note about what changed (“Updated ACoS target to 22%”)
3. Push: Send the snapshot to GitHub

You do not need to do this after every small edit. Once a week — or any time you make a significant change to your CLAUDE.md or MEMORY.md — is sufficient.

Make Your Repository Private

Your CLAUDE.md contains real business information: your ASINs, your suppliers, your targets, your brand details. When you create your GitHub repository, set it to Private. This means only you (and people you explicitly invite) can see it.

Public repositories are visible to anyone on the internet. Keep yours private.

How to Connect Your VS Code Workspace to GitHub

1. Create a free account at github.com
2. Create a new repository (click the green “New” button). Name it something like amazon-ai-workspace. Set it to Private.
3. In VS Code, click the Source Control icon in the left sidebar (looks like a branching path)
4. Click “Initialize Repository” — this connects your current workspace folder to git
5. Click the three-dot menu and choose “Publish to GitHub” — sign in with your GitHub account and select your new repository
6. Your files are now backed up

After the initial setup, future saves are just: Source Control panel → type a short note → click Commit → click Sync.

What Should Be in GitHub?

• Yes: CLAUDE.md, MEMORY.md, prompt templates, any scripts you create
• No: large data files like PPC exports or sales reports — keep those in your /reports folder locally, but do not push them to GitHub (they would take up storage and rarely need versioning)