How do I zip up a folder but exclude the .git subfolder

The correct expression is -x '*.git*', so the full command should be:

zip -r bitvolution.zip ./bitvolution -x '*.git*'

An explanation from http://selfsolved.com/problems/zip-command-exclude-svn-director:

The correct incantation is

zip -9 -r --exclude=*.svn*  foo.zip [directory-to-compress]

You can also add a
--exclude=*.DS_Store* to exclude the annoying Mac OS X directory display metadata files.

Notice that the expression passed to --exclude is using the entire original relative directory path as the original string to match against. So .svn/* by itself doesn't work; the wildcard character in front ensures that it matches .svn directories anywhere in the directory tree.

If you're trying to zip up a project which is stored in Git, use the git archive command. From within the source directory:

git archive -o bitvolution.zip HEAD

You can use any commit or tag ID instead of HEAD to archive the project at a certain point.

If you want to add a prefix (e.g., a top level folder) to every file:

git archive -o bitvolution.zip --prefix=bitvolution/ HEAD

You can also adjust the compression level between 0 (no compression) and 9 (maximum compression) inclusive, for example

git archive -o bitvolution.zip -9 HEAD

For other options, see the help page (git help archive).

I added backslash:

zip -r bitvolution.zip bitvolution -x \*.git\*

man page about backslash:

The backslash avoids the shell filename substitution, so that the name matching is performed by zip at all directory levels.