any repository you’re pushing to / pulling from is called a “remote”

remotes can be:

• hosted by GitHub/GitLab/etc.
• on your own server
• just a folder on your computer

git push syntax

(same for git pull)

git push origin main

“origin” is the remote name, “main” is the remote branch.

the default name for a remote is origin but you can name it anything

tip!

I like to configure push.autoSetupRemote true to automatically set up tracking the first time I push a new branch

remotes are where the drama happens

Smiling stick figure with short curly hair: I spent 3 hours working on cats.py

person: git pull

git, represented by a box with a smiley face: fun fact! your coworker totally rewrote that file!

example: I use 2 remotes when contributing to open source projects

Diagram of a box labelled “local repo”. Local repo has an arrow labelled “push to here”, pointing to a box labelled “My personal GitHub fork”. That box has an arrow labelled “pull request”, pointing to a box labelled “main project repo name: “origin””. That box has an arrow labelled “pull from here”, pointing back to the “local repo” box.

remotes are configured in .git/config

every remote has a name and URL

[remote "origin"]
url = git@github.com:jvns/myrepo
branch ["main"]
remote = origin
merge = refs/heads/main

“origin” is the name, “git@github.com:jvns/myrepo” is the URL.

this sets up “tracking” between local main remote main on origin so that git knows what to push to when you run git push or git pull

protocols

Git has 3 main protocols for remotes. The protocol is embedded in the URL.

• HTTP (I use this if I only want to pull)
  https://github.com/jvns/myrepo
• SSH (I use this if I need to push)
  git@github.com:jvns/myrepo
• local
  file:///home/bork/myrepo