Cloning a Repository

git clone downloads a complete copy of an existing repository — every file, every commit, every branch — and sets up the remote connection for you. It's how you start working on any project that already exists, whether your team's or an open-source one.

Cloning

Copy the URL from the repository's page on GitHub (the green Code button) and pass it to git clone:

git clone https://github.com/sam-rivera/recipes.git

Output

Cloning into 'recipes'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 9, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (9/9), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (5/5), done.
remote: Total 9 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (9/9), done.

Git creates a folder named after the repository, downloads everything into it, and checks out the default branch. Move into it and you're ready to work:

cd recipes
git log --oneline

Output

13992c7 (HEAD -> main, origin/main, origin/HEAD) Add omelette recipe
6b13d64 Add pancake recipe

What clone sets up

A remote called origin pointing at the URL you cloned from.
A local main branch with origin/main as its upstream, so git pull and git push work straight away.
Remote-tracking branches for every branch on the server — origin/main, origin/desserts — which record what the server had when you last talked to it.

git remote -v
git branch -a

Output

origin	https://github.com/sam-rivera/recipes.git (fetch)
origin	https://github.com/sam-rivera/recipes.git (push)
* main
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/main
  remotes/origin/desserts
  remotes/origin/main

Only main is a local branch. To work on desserts, just switch to it — Git sees there's a remote branch with that name and creates a local one that tracks it:

git switch desserts

Output

branch 'desserts' set up to track 'origin/desserts'.
Switched to a new branch 'desserts'

Choosing the folder name

Add a folder name after the URL to clone somewhere else:

cd ~
git clone --quiet https://github.com/sam-rivera/recipes.git family-cookbook
ls

Output

family-cookbook  recipes

Use . as the name to clone into the current folder (it must be empty).

Useful clone options

Option	Effect
`-b desserts`	Check out a different branch than the default
`--depth 1`	A shallow clone: only the latest commit, without history — much faster for huge repositories when you just need the code (e.g. in automated builds)
`--filter=blob:none`	A partial clone: full history, but old file contents are downloaded only when needed
`--recurse-submodules`	Also clone any submodules (lesson 46)
`--bare`	Just the history, no working tree (used for servers and backups)

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sam-rivera/recipes.git quick-look
cd quick-look
git log --oneline

Output

Cloning into 'quick-look'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 4, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.
remote: Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (4/4), done.
13992c7 (grafted, HEAD -> main, origin/main, origin/HEAD) Add omelette recipe

Only one commit came down. The grafted label marks where the cut-off history begins. A shallow clone can be deepened later with git fetch --unshallow if you need the history after all.

Clone vs. download ZIP

GitHub's "Download ZIP" gives you the files only — no .git folder, no history, no connection to the remote. That's fine for just using the code, but to contribute or keep up to date, clone.

Cloning by SSH

If you set up SSH keys (lesson 31), use the SSH URL from the Code button instead: git clone git@github.com:sam-rivera/recipes.git. Everything else is the same.

Try it yourself

Clone a small open-source project you like. Run git log --oneline -5, git branch -a and git remote -v, and find out how many commits it has with git rev-list --count HEAD.

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