Clone, Fetch, Pull, Push

Remotes

A remote is another copy of your repository, somewhere else: on GitHub, on a server, or in another folder ¹. Each has a short name. When you clone, git names the one you cloned from origin ¹.

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git remote -v
origin  git@github.com:you/garden.git (fetch)
origin  git@github.com:you/garden.git (push)

Your repository keeps remote-tracking branches such as origin/main: read-only bookmarks of where the remote’s branches were the last time you talked to it ¹. Your own main and origin/main can differ, and that difference is what fetch, pull, and push sort out.

Clone

git clone copies a whole repository, every commit and branch, sets up origin, and checks out the default branch ¹:

me@linuxbox:~$ git clone git@github.com:you/garden.git
Cloning into 'garden'...

Fetch and pull

git fetch downloads commits you don’t have and moves your origin/... branches to match the remote. It never touches your own branches or your files, so it’s always safe ¹. Afterward, git status tells you where you stand:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git fetch
From github.com:you/garden
   e92017d..f30ca24  main       -> origin/main
me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is behind 'origin/main' by 1 commit, and can be fast-forwarded.
  (use "git pull" to update your local branch)

Notice the first git status said “up to date”: it compares with origin/main as of your last fetch, not with the remote right now.

git pull is a fetch followed by integrating origin/main into your branch ². If only the remote has new commits, that’s a fast-forward:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git pull
Updating e92017d..f30ca24
Fast-forward
 beds.txt | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

If both you and the remote have new commits, the histories have diverged, and pull has to merge or rebase. Older versions of git merge automatically; current git’s documentation makes fast-forward-only the default, so pull stops and asks you to choose ²:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git pull --rebase       # replay my commits on top of theirs (module 3)
me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git pull --no-rebase    # merge, making a merge commit

Pick a default once so you’re not asked every time ². For your own projects, rebasing keeps history straight:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git config --global pull.rebase true

Push

git push sends your branch’s new commits to the remote and moves the remote’s branch to match ¹. The first time, add -u (--set-upstream) so git remembers that your main goes with origin/main; after that, plain git push and git pull know where to go ³:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git push -u origin main
To github.com:you/garden.git
 * [new branch]      main -> main
branch 'main' set up to track 'origin/main'.

If the remote has commits you don’t have, the push is rejected ³:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git push
To github.com:you/garden.git
 ! [rejected]        main -> main (fetch first)
error: failed to push some refs to 'github.com:you/garden.git'
hint: Updates were rejected because the remote contains work that you do not
hint: have locally. ...

Pushing only ever moves a remote branch forward, so it can’t silently throw away someone else’s commits ³. The fix is to pull first (with --rebase, ideally), then push:

me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git pull --rebase
Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/main.
me@linuxbox:~/garden$ git push

You’ll see advice to use git push --force to override a rejection. It replaces the remote branch with yours, discarding whatever’s there that you don’t have. If you ever truly need it, after rebasing your own branch that nobody else uses, use --force-with-lease, which refuses if the remote has changed since you last fetched ³.

Your turn

So

A remote is another copy of the repository, usually origin, and origin/main is your last-known copy of its main. git clone copies one, git fetch safely updates origin/*, git pull fetches and integrates (set pull.rebase once), and git push -u sends your branch and sets up tracking. A rejected push means pull first; avoid --force, and if you must, use --force-with-lease.