What are github actions minutes/month?

That relates to Github Actions, not things like pushing, pulling etc.

GitHub Actions is a feature provided by GitHub to create workflows which can run on triggering any GitHub event, for eg run the build of the project on creation of a pull request. GitHub actions can be configured by creation of a workflow in the form of a yaml file and placing it under .github/workflows directory in your repo. This documentation provides more info regarding creating workflows.

For example, say I have a repository with some python/js code and I start working on a new system. When I do a git pull to clone my repository in a new system are there any actions in the backstage that are consumed? Do I consume any time from my plan?

No, running a git pull to clone your repo doesn't use up any allocated action minutes.

GitHub actions only run if you have configured them to run by creating the workflows for specific GitHub events as mentioned here. When any actions are configured for a repo, the same can be viewed under the Actions tab as shown below. Every GitHub action triggered shows up here.

Also, the current 2000 action minutes per month allocation is for the triggered workflows for private repos, not public repos. You can check your usage of the free action minutes for private repos at https://github.com/settings/billing, as mentioned in my SO answer here .