git-remote(1)

# git-remote(1) Manual Page

## NAME

git-remote - Manage set of tracked repositories

## SYNOPSIS

    git remote [-v | --verbose]
    git remote add [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--[no-]tags] [--mirror=<fetch|push>] <name> <url>
    git remote rename <old> <new>
    git remote remove <name>
    git remote set-head <name> (-a | --auto | -d | --delete | <branch>)
    git remote set-branches [--add] <name> <branch>…
    git remote set-url [--push] <name> <newurl> [<oldurl>]
    git remote set-url --add [--push] <name> <newurl>
    git remote set-url --delete [--push] <name> <url>
    git remote [-v | --verbose] show [-n] <name>…
    git remote prune [-n | --dry-run] <name>…
    git remote [-v | --verbose] update [-p | --prune] [(<group> | <remote>)…]

## DESCRIPTION

Manage the set of repositories ("remotes") whose branches you track.

## OPTIONS

-v
--verbose

  Be a little more verbose and show remote url after name. NOTE: This must be placed between `remote` and `subcommand`.

## COMMANDS

With no arguments, shows a list of existing remotes. Several subcommands are available to perform operations on the remotes.

add

  Adds a remote named <name> for the repository at <url>. The command `git fetch <name>` can then be used to create and update remote-tracking branches <name>/<branch>.

  With `-f` option, `git fetch <name>` is run immediately after the remote information is set up.

  With `--tags` option, `git fetch <name>` imports every tag from the remote repository.

  With `--no-tags` option, `git fetch <name>` does not import tags from the remote repository.

  With `-t <branch>` option, instead of the default glob refspec for the remote to track all branches under the `refs/remotes/<name>/` namespace, a refspec to track only `<branch>` is created. You can give more than one `-t <branch>` to track multiple branches without grabbing all branches.

  With `-m <master>` option, a symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set up to point at remote’s `<master>` branch. See also the set-head command.

  When a fetch mirror is created with `--mirror=fetch`, the refs will not be stored in the refs/remotes/ namespace, but rather everything in refs/ on the remote will be directly mirrored into refs/ in the local repository. This option only makes sense in bare repositories, because a fetch would overwrite any local commits.

  When a push mirror is created with `--mirror=push`, then `git push` will always behave as if `--mirror` was passed.

rename

  Rename the remote named <old> to <new>. All remote-tracking branches and configuration settings for the remote are updated.

  In case <old> and <new> are the same, and <old> is a file under `$GIT_DIR/remotes` or `$GIT_DIR/branches`, the remote is converted to the configuration file format.

remove
rm

  Remove the remote named <name>. All remote-tracking branches and configuration settings for the remote are removed.

set-head

  Sets or deletes the default branch (i.e. the target of the symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD`) for the named remote. Having a default branch for a remote is not required, but allows the name of the remote to be specified in lieu of a specific branch. For example, if the default branch for `origin` is set to `master`, then `origin` may be specified wherever you would normally specify `origin/master`.

  With `-d` or `--delete`, the symbolic ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is deleted.

  With `-a` or `--auto`, the remote is queried to determine its `HEAD`, then the symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set to the same branch. e.g., if the remote `HEAD` is pointed at `next`, "`git remote set-head origin -a`" will set the symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` to `refs/remotes/origin/next`. This will only work if `refs/remotes/origin/next` already exists; if not it must be fetched first.

  Use `<branch>` to set the symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` explicitly. e.g., "git remote set-head origin master" will set the symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` to `refs/remotes/origin/master`. This will only work if `refs/remotes/origin/master` already exists; if not it must be fetched first.

set-branches

  Changes the list of branches tracked by the named remote. This can be used to track a subset of the available remote branches after the initial setup for a remote.

  The named branches will be interpreted as if specified with the `-t` option on the git remote add command line.

  With `--add`, instead of replacing the list of currently tracked branches, adds to that list.

set-url

  Changes URL remote points to. Sets first URL remote points to matching regex <oldurl> (first URL if no <oldurl> is given) to <newurl>. If <oldurl> doesn’t match any URL, error occurs and nothing is changed.

  With --push, push URLs are manipulated instead of fetch URLs.

  With --add, instead of changing some URL, new URL is added.

  With --delete, instead of changing some URL, all URLs matching regex <url> are deleted. Trying to delete all non-push URLs is an error.

show

  Gives some information about the remote <name>.

  With `-n` option, the remote heads are not queried first with `git ls-remote <name>`; cached information is used instead.

prune

  Deletes all stale remote-tracking branches under <name>. These stale branches have already been removed from the remote repository referenced by <name>, but are still locally available in "remotes/<name>".

  With `--dry-run` option, report what branches will be pruned, but do not actually prune them.

update

  Fetch updates for a named set of remotes in the repository as defined by remotes.<group>. If a named group is not specified on the command line, the configuration parameter remotes.default will be used; if remotes.default is not defined, all remotes which do not have the configuration parameter remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate set to true will be updated. (See git-config(1)).

  With `--prune` option, prune all the remotes that are updated.

## DISCUSSION

The remote configuration is achieved using the `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch` configuration variables. (See git-config(1)).

## Examples

- Add a new remote, fetch, and check out a branch from it

      $ git remote
      origin
      $ git branch -r
        origin/HEAD -> origin/master
        origin/master
      $ git remote add staging git://git.kernel.org/.../gregkh/staging.git
      $ git remote
      origin
      staging
      $ git fetch staging
      ...
      From git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging
       * [new branch]      master     -> staging/master
       * [new branch]      staging-linus -> staging/staging-linus
       * [new branch]      staging-next -> staging/staging-next
      $ git branch -r
        origin/HEAD -> origin/master
        origin/master
        staging/master
        staging/staging-linus
        staging/staging-next
      $ git checkout -b staging staging/master
      ...

- Imitate git clone but track only selected branches

      $ mkdir project.git
      $ cd project.git
      $ git init
      $ git remote add -f -t master -m master origin git://example.com/git.git/
      $ git merge origin

## SEE ALSO

git-fetch(1) git-branch(1) git-config(1)

## GIT

Part of the git(1) suite