Is there a good way to do this or are we subject to forcible diffing between the .zip/worked on code and a newly checked out, git remote connected repo?

Keeping your code repositories in-house is a good way to avoid security leaks. Jack Wallen shows you how easy it is to connect to a Gogs local repository from the Git command line.

This Git and GitHub tutorial for beginners teaches how to use these source code version control tools that are at the heart of modern app development.