Introduction to Remotes

So far, we've worked with local repositories. To collaborate with others, you need to connect to remote repositories—copies of your project hosted on a server.

What is a Remote?

A remote is a reference to a repository hosted elsewhere (like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).

Your Computer                    Server (GitHub)
┌─────────────────┐             ┌─────────────────┐
│  Local Repo     │ ←──────────→│  Remote Repo    │
│  .git/          │             │  origin/        │
│  - Your commits │   push/pull │  - All commits  │
│  - Your branches│             │  - All branches │
└─────────────────┘             └─────────────────┘

Why Use Remotes?

Benefit	Description
Backup	Your code is safely stored in the cloud
Collaboration	Share code with team members
Deployment	Deploy from a central location
CI/CD	Trigger automated tests and builds
Code Review	Review changes before merging

The Origin Remote

When you clone a repository, Git automatically creates a remote called origin:

git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git
cd repo

git remote -v
# origin  https://github.com/user/repo.git (fetch)
# origin  https://github.com/user/repo.git (push)

origin is just a convention—the default name for the primary remote.

Managing Remotes

View Remotes

# List remote names
git remote

# List with URLs
git remote -v

# Show detailed info
git remote show origin

Add a Remote

git remote add upstream https://github.com/original/repo.git

Now you have two remotes:

• origin - Your fork
• upstream - The original repo

Rename a Remote

git remote rename origin github

Change Remote URL

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:user/repo.git

Remove a Remote

git remote remove upstream

Remote-Tracking Branches

When you fetch from a remote, Git creates remote-tracking branches:

Local branches:              Remote-tracking branches:
main                         origin/main
feature                      origin/feature
                             origin/develop

Remote-tracking branches (like origin/main) are read-only references to where the remote branches were last time you fetched.

View Remote-Tracking Branches

# All branches including remote-tracking
git branch -a

# Remote-tracking only
git branch -r

Output:

* main
  feature
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/main
  remotes/origin/main
  remotes/origin/develop

Understanding Remote URLs

HTTPS URLs

https://github.com/username/repository.git

• Works through firewalls
• Requires username/password or token
• Easier to set up

SSH URLs

git@github.com:username/repository.git

• Requires SSH key setup
• No password prompts after setup
• More secure

Switching Between Protocols

# Check current URL
git remote -v

# Switch to SSH
git remote set-url origin git@github.com:user/repo.git

# Switch to HTTPS
git remote set-url origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

Exercise: Explore Remotes

Practice working with remote references:

Multiple Remotes

You can have multiple remotes for different purposes:

# Your fork
git remote add origin git@github.com:you/project.git

# Original project (to get updates)
git remote add upstream git@github.com:org/project.git

# Deployment server
git remote add production ssh://deploy@server.com/var/git/project.git

Common remote names:

• origin - Your primary remote (your fork)
• upstream - Original project you forked from
• production - Production server
• staging - Staging server

The Fetch, Push, and Pull Cycle

              ┌──────────────────────┐
              │    Remote Server     │
              │    (e.g., GitHub)    │
              └──────────────────────┘
                   ↑           ↓
              push │           │ fetch
                   │           ↓
              ┌──────────────────────┐
              │   Your Local Repo    │
              │                      │
              │   origin/main ←────── fetched data
              │   main ←────────────── your work
              │                      │
              └──────────────────────┘

• fetch: Download changes (doesn't merge)
• pull: Fetch + merge
• push: Upload your changes

Remote Configuration

Remote settings are stored in .git/config:

[remote "origin"]
    url = git@github.com:user/repo.git
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

[remote "upstream"]
    url = https://github.com/org/repo.git
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/upstream/*

[branch "main"]
    remote = origin
    merge = refs/heads/main

You can edit this directly or use git config:

git config remote.origin.url
git config remote.origin.url "new-url"

Summary

• A remote is a reference to a repository on a server
• origin is the default name for your primary remote
• Use git remote -v to see configured remotes
• Remote-tracking branches (like origin/main) track the remote state
• You can have multiple remotes for different purposes
• Use SSH URLs for passwordless authentication

In the next lesson, we'll learn how to push and pull changes.