Working with Remotes

What are Remotes?

In Git, a remote is a common repository that is hosted on a server. It can be accessed by multiple developers, allowing them to collaborate on a project. Remotes are typically used to share code, track changes, and synchronize work between team members.

When you clone a repository, Git automatically creates a remote called origin that points to the original repository. This allows you to fetch, pull, and push changes to and from the remote repository.

Adding a Remote

To add a remote to your local repository, use the following command:

git remote add <name> <url>

Replace <name> with a name for the remote (e.g., origin, upstream, myfork) and <url> with the URL of the remote repository.

For example, to add a remote named upstream that points to a repository on GitHub, you would use the following command:

git remote add upstream

Pulling from Remotes

To pull changes from a remote repository, use the following command:

git pull <remote> <branch>

Replace <remote> with the name of the remote repository (e.g., origin, upstream) and <branch> with the name of the branch you want to pull from.

For example, to pull changes from the master branch of the origin remote, you would use the following command:

git pull origin master

You can just use git pull to pull changes from the remote repository that your current branch is tracking.

Pushing to Remotes

To push changes to a remote repository, use the following command:

git push <remote> <branch>

Replace <remote> with the name of the remote repository (e.g., origin, upstream) and <branch> with the name of the branch you want to push to.

For example, to push changes to the master branch of the origin remote, you would use the following command:

git push origin master

You can just use git push to push changes to the remote repository that your current branch is tracking.