Git · Lesson 4 of 6

Remotes & GitHub

Connecting to GitHub, push, pull, clone and fetch.

A remote is a copy of the repository somewhere else — usually GitHub. By convention the main one is called origin.

git clone URL — download a repository with its full history.
git remote add origin URL — link an existing local repo to GitHub.
git push -u origin main — upload your commits (-u remembers the link for next time).
git pull — download others' commits and merge them into your branch.
git fetch — download without merging, so you can inspect first.

GitHub asks you to sign in with a personal access token or SSH key rather than your password.

Example in the terminal

Run these on your own computer

$ git remote add origin https://github.com/anu-kumar/job-tracker.git
$ git push -u origin main
Enumerating objects: 6, done.
To https://github.com/anu-kumar/job-tracker.git
 * [new branch]      main -> main
branch 'main' set up to track 'origin/main'.

# On another laptop
$ git clone https://github.com/anu-kumar/job-tracker.git
$ cd job-tracker
$ git pull
Already up to date.

Lines starting with $ are commands you type; the rest is what Git prints. Names and URLs are examples.

Key points

origin = the default remote name.
push uploads, pull downloads + merges.
clone copies a repo with its history.

Quick check

Which command downloads changes without merging them?

git pull git fetch git push git clone

Practice task

Create an empty repository on GitHub, push your local job-tracker repo to it and confirm the files appear on the website.

Interview corner

git pull vs git fetch?

fetch updates your remote-tracking branches but leaves your work untouched. pull does a fetch and then merges (or rebases) into your current branch.

What is a fork?

Your own copy of someone else's repository on GitHub. You push to your fork and open a pull request back to the original.