How to push local repository to github

Pushing changes to GitHub

In this article

As you commit changes to your project locally, you can push those changes to GitHub so that others may access them from the remote repository.

People with write permissions can push changes to a repository.

About pushing changes to GitHub

When you push changes, you send the committed changes in your local repository to the remote repository on GitHub. If you change your project locally and want other people to have access to the changes, you must push the changes to GitHub.

Before pushing changes, you should update your local branch to include any commits that have been added to the remote repository. If someone has made commits on the remote that are not on your local branch, GitHub Desktop will prompt you to fetch the new commits before pushing your changes to avoid merge conflicts. For more information, see «Syncing your branch.»

Repository administrators can enable protections on a branch. If you’re working on a branch that’s protected, you won’t be able to delete or force push to the branch. Repository administrators can enable other protected branch settings to enforce specific workflows before a branch can be merged. For more information, see «About protected branches.»

Pushing changes to GitHub

Note: GitHub Desktop will reject a push if it exceeds certain limits.

If you configure Git Large File Storage to track your large files, you can push large files that would normally be rejected. For more information, see «About Git Large File Storage and GitHub Desktop.»

Pushing from local repository to GitHub hosted remote

I created a local repository of my Visual Studio 2010 solution folder using Git GUI on my dev machine. I then created a remote repository in my GitHub account. Now, I am looking for how to push my local repository to the remote repository.

In SVN I can just commit using TortoiseSVN and changes are pushed to the remote repository. I don’t see any tool like that available for Git.

How do I push my local repo to my remote repo on GitHub?

5 Answers 5

Trending sort

Trending sort is based off of the default sorting method — by highest score — but it boosts votes that have happened recently, helping to surface more up-to-date answers.

It falls back to sorting by highest score if no posts are trending.

Switch to Trending sort

You push your local repository to the remote repository using the git push command after first establishing a relationship between the two with the git remote add [alias] [url] command. If you visit your Github repository, it will show you the URL to use for pushing. You’ll first enter something like:

Unless you started by running git clone against the remote repository, in which case this step has been done for you already.

And after that, you’ll type:

After your first push, you can simply type:

when you want to update the remote repository in the future.

‘ or just ‘origin’? You’d best avoid tilde as it means something to Git.

from the command line inside the repository directory

Subversion implicitly has the remote repository associated with it at all times. Git, on the other hand, allows many «remotes», each of which represents a single remote place you can push to or pull from.

The GitHub help also discusses them in a more «task-focused» way here: http://help.github.com/remotes/

Once you have associated the two you will be able to push or pull branches.

This worked for my GIT version 1.8.4:

c0ldlimit / git_newrepo

This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters. Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters

Shreeja-tech commented Oct 11, 2020

why is it showing pathspec «README.md» did not match any files

vijay2712 commented Nov 12, 2020

Maverick-1812 commented Feb 10, 2021

KelechiDivine commented Mar 19, 2021

What if I wanna push to an existing repository?

killshot13 commented Mar 24, 2021 •

What if I wanna push to an existing repository?

1.) Navigate to repo in question.
2.) Fork the repo to your own account.
3.) Clone the forked repo to your local environment.
4.) Make your changes and push them to GitHub (to the forked repo).
5.) In the browser, go to your version and verify your updates.
6.) Create a pull request from your fork to the original.
7.) The repo owner will be notified and will review your request.
8.) Be patient, it may take weeks for progress on minor fixes.

hyoretsu commented Apr 10, 2021

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

So it’s better to just create it from GitHub and clone the repo anyway.

killshot13 commented Apr 12, 2021 •

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

So it’s better to just create it from GitHub and clone the repo anyway.

@hyoretsu is certainly correct; however, in the spirit of progress I should point out that VS Code now has native support for creating and naming new repos directly from the editor!

Immediately after choosing a name, you will be able to push to this new repo the code you wrote and committed earlier. without ever leaving your IDE.

norulshahlam commented Apr 28, 2021

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

i saw that vs code does it for you without us having to go to github to create one first

juan-calle commented May 22, 2021

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

i saw that vs code does it for you without us having to go to github to create one first

Alternatively, if you prefer to do this stuff from your CLI, you can install github for your terminal and then is as simple as typing:
gh repo create your_repo

KannanKB commented Jul 4, 2021 •

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

This was the doubt revolving around for me

KannanKB commented Jul 4, 2021

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

i saw that vs code does it for you without us having to go to github to create one first

Thanks, but is there sequence or steps to be followed for VS code to create it for us

KannanKB commented Jul 4, 2021 •

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

i saw that vs code does it for you without us having to go to github to create one first

Alternatively, if you prefer to do this stuff from your CLI, you can install github for your terminal and then is as simple as typing:
gh repo create your_repo

👍 but it I tried it the command through git bash, ‘bash: gh: command not found‘ is the error

killshot13 commented Jul 8, 2021 •

Just one note: if the repository doesn’t exist in Github, first you will have to create it: https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-new-repository/

I saw that vs code does it for you without us having to go to github to create one first

Alternatively, if you prefer to do this stuff from your CLI, you can install github for your terminal and then is as simple as typing:
gh repo create your_repo

👍 but it I tried it the command through git bash, ‘bash: gh: command not found‘ is the error

@KannanKB okay, so Git Bash and GitHub CLI are two completely different pieces of software. It is easy to get the two mixed up, but remember, Git =/= GitHub.

Git ( git ) is a version control system accessible from the command line, and Git Bash is a program that allows the developer to use Git on Windows since Git by itself can only be installed on Linux.

GitHub ( gh ) is a company that provides free hosting for open-source code repositories along with some helpful tools. One of their more recent releases was the GitHub CLI, which actually uses Git under the hood, among other technologies, to provide a simple way of interacting with repositories and services on the GitHub platform straight from the command line.

Unlike Git, which is universal, the GitHub CLI does not work on GitBucket, BitBucket, or any other hosting providers for code repositories, nor does it natively provide version control. So to summarize—

mindplace / git_and_github_instructions.md

1. Make sure git is tracking your project locally

→ If you get another error message, read carefully what it says.

2. Create a remote, empty folder/repository on Github.

Login to your Github account.

At the top right of any Github page, you should see a ‘+’ icon. Click that, then select ‘New Repository’.

Give your repository a name—ideally the same name as your local project. If I’m building a travel application, its folder will be called ‘travel-app’ on my computer, and ‘travel-app’ will be the Github repository name as well.

Click ‘Create Repository’. The next screen you see will be important, so don’t close it.

3. Connect your local project folder to your empty folder/repository on Github.

The screen you should be seeing now on Github is titled ‘Quick setup — if you’ve done this kind of thing before’.

Copy the link in the input right beneath the title, it should look something like this: https://github.com/yourname/yourproject.git
This is the web address that your local folder will use to push its contents to the remote folder on Github.

Go back to your project in the terminal/command line.

In your terminal/command line, type git remote add origin [copied web address] Example: git remote add origin https://github.com/yourname/yourproject.git

Go back to the folder/repository screen on Github that you just left, and refresh it. The title ‘Quick setup — if you’ve done this kind of thing before’ should disappear, and you should see your files there.

How to Push an Existing Project to GitHub

Introduction

GitHub is a cloud-hosted Git management tool. Git is distributed version control, meaning the entire repository and history lives wherever you put it. People tend to use GitHub in their business or development workflow as a managed hosting solution for backups of their repositories. GitHub takes this even further by letting you connect with coworkers, friends, organizations, and more.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to take an existing project you are working on and push it, so it also exists on GitHub.

Prerequisites

To initialize the repo and push it to GitHub you’ll need:

Step 1 — Create a new GitHub Repo

Sign in to GitHub and create a new empty repo. You can choose to either initialize a README or not. It doesn’t really matter because we’re just going to override everything in this remote repository anyways.

Step 2 — Initialize Git in the project folder

From your terminal, run the following commands after navigating to the folder you would like to add.

Initialize the Git Repo

Make sure you are in the root directory of the project you want to push to GitHub and run:

Note: If you already have an initialized Git repository, you can skip this command.

Add the files to Git index

Commit Added Files

Add a new remote origin

Note: Remember, you will need to replace the highlighted parts of the username and repo name with your own username and repo name.

In git, a “remote” refers to a remote version of the same repository, which is typically on a server somewhere (in this case, GitHub). “origin” is the default name git gives to a remote server (you can have multiple remotes) so git remote add origin is instructing git to add the URL of the default remote server for this repo.

Push to GitHub

All together

Conclusion

Now you are all set to track your code changes remotely in GitHub! As a next step, here’s a complete guide to how to use git.

Once you start collaborating with others on the project, you’ll want to know how to create a pull request.

Want to learn more? Join the DigitalOcean Community!

Join our DigitalOcean community of over a million developers for free! Get help and share knowledge in our Questions & Answers section, find tutorials and tools that will help you grow as a developer and scale your project or business, and subscribe to topics of interest.