# Fork

> Your own copy of a repository, on your GitHub account, where you make changes before you propose them.

Source: https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/fork/

- Also: forks, forked

You can't change a Home Assistant repository directly. Instead, you change your fork, and open a pull request to propose that change to the original. When you edit a file on GitHub in a repository you can't write to, GitHub offers to create the fork for you.

## Related terms

- [Repository](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/repository/): A project on GitHub: its files, and the full history of every change to them.
- [Branch](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/branch/): A separate line of changes in a repository, so you can work on something without touching the main version.
- [Pull request](https://contributors.home-assistant.io/glossary/pull-request/): A request on GitHub to merge a change into a repository, where it is reviewed before it goes in.