# 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] [--mirror] <name> <url> git remote rename <old> <new> git remote rm <name> git remote set-head <name> (-a | -d | <branch>) 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 `-t <branch>` option, instead of the default glob refspec for the remote to track all branches under `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/`, 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, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set up to point at remote's `<master>` branch. See also the set-head command.

  In mirror mode, enabled with `--mirror`, the refs will not be stored in the refs/remotes/ namespace, but in refs/heads/. This option only makes sense in bare repositories. If a remote uses mirror mode, furthermore, `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.

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 (`$GIT_DIR/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`, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is deleted.

  With `-a`, the remote is queried to determine its `HEAD`, then `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set to the same branch. e.g., if the remote `HEAD` is pointed at `next`, "`git remote set-head origin -a`" will set `$GIT_DIR/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 `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` explicitly. e.g., "git remote set-head origin master" will set `$GIT_DIR/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.

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 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/master
      $ git remote add linux-nfs git://linux-nfs.org/pub/linux/nfs-2.6.git
      $ git remote
      linux-nfs
      origin
      $ git fetch
      * refs/remotes/linux-nfs/master: storing branch 'master' ...
        commit: bf81b46
      $ git branch -r
      origin/master
      linux-nfs/master
      $ git checkout -b nfs linux-nfs/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)

## Author

Written by Junio Hamano

## Documentation

Documentation by J. Bruce Fields and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

## GIT

Part of the git(1) suite