Git

Clone

You might say

Here's a project URL. How do I download the whole codebase to my computer so I can edit it?

Create a local copy of a remote repository and its historyClone downloads a repository, creates a working directory, and configures the original location as a remote. It is normally the first step when joining an existing project. Check the destination path and repository source before running it.

Remote repositoryFiles and commit history

Create a local copyclone→

New local repositoryReady to work on your computer

git clone <repository-url>

Clone creates a new local repository from a remote repository, including its files, branches, and commit history. After cloning once, use pull to bring later remote commits into that local repository.

Anatomy

https://github.com/maya-lee/my-first-page.git

An HTTPS URL works without setting up an SSH key first.

The Git hosting service, such as GitHub or Gitee

The repository owner; after a fork, this segment becomes your account name

The repository name, which also becomes the local folder name by default

Variants

git clone

git clone https://github.com/maya-lee/my-first-page.git

Download working files, repository metadata, and reachable commit history

clone + 名字

git clone <address> my-app

Want to change the name of the local folder

Download ZIP

Code ▾ → Download ZIP

When you only need working files and no Git history

Fork

Upper right of the webpage ⑂ Fork

When you need to create a remote copy under your own account

Typical use cases

Join a project

my-first-page <> Code ▾

HTTPSSSHGitHub CLI

https://github.com/maya-lee/my-first-page.git 📋 Copy URL

Set up a new computer

zsh — ~/projects

$ git clone https://github.com/maya-lee/my-first-page.git Cloning into 'my-first-page'... remote: Enumerating objects: 36, done. remote: Counting objects: 100% (36/36), done. Receiving objects: 100% (36/36), 12.4 KiB | 2.1 MiB/s, done. Created a local repository at ~/projects/my-first-page

Review an open-source repository

zsh — my-first-page

$ git log --oneline e7b2d48 Fix button alignment on mobile a3f9c21 Finish the home-page navigation b4c5d67 Home page basic version 0f1e2d3 Initialize project After cloning, use git log to view the commit history

Create a clean working copy

maya-lee / my-first-page ⑂ Fork 12

⑂

xiaoli / my-first-page

forked from maya-lee/my-first-page

A fork is a separate repository under your account. Clone the fork locally before working on it and pushing commits to it.