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Adding an existing project to GitHub using the command line

In this article

Putting your existing work on GitHub can let you share and collaborate in lots of great ways.

About adding existing projects to GitHub

Tip: If you're most comfortable with a point-and-click user interface, try adding your project with GitHub Desktop. For more information, see "Adding a repository from your local computer to GitHub Desktop" in the GitHub Desktop Help.

Warning: Never git add, commit, or push sensitive information to a remote repository. Sensitive information can include, but is not limited to:

  • Passwords
  • SSH keys
  • AWS access keys
  • API keys
  • Credit card numbers
  • PIN numbers

For more information, see "Removing sensitive data from a repository."

Adding a project to GitHub with GitHub CLI

GitHub CLI is an open source tool for using GitHub from your computer's command line. GitHub CLI can simplify the process of adding an existing project to GitHub using the command line. To learn more about GitHub CLI, see "About GitHub CLI."

  1. In the command line, navigate to the root directory of your project.

  2. Initialize the local directory as a Git repository.

    git init -b main

  3. Stage and commit all the files in your project

    git add . && git commit -m "initial commit"

  4. To create a repository for your project on GitHub, use the gh repo create subcommand. When prompted, select Push an existing local repository to GitHub and enter the desired name for your repository. If you want your project to belong to an organization instead of your user account, specify the organization name and project name with organization-name/project-name.

  5. Follow the interactive prompts. To add the remote and push the repository, confirm yes when asked to add the remote and push the commits to the current branch.

  6. Alternatively, to skip all the prompts, supply the path to the repository with the --source flag and pass a visibility flag (--public, --private, or --internal). For example, gh repo create --source=. --public. Specify a remote with the --remote flag. To push your commits, pass the --push flag. For more information about possible arguments, see the GitHub CLI manual.

Adding a project to GitHub without GitHub CLI

  1. Create a new repository on GitHub.com. To avoid errors, do not initialize the new repository with README, license, or gitignore files. You can add these files after your project has been pushed to GitHub. Create New Repository drop-down
  2. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.
  3. Change the current working directory to your local project.
  4. Initialize the local directory as a Git repository. 
    $ git init -b main
  5. Add the files in your new local repository. This stages them for the first commit. 
    $ git add .
# Adds the files in the local repository and stages them for commit. To unstage a file, use 'git reset HEAD YOUR-FILE'.
  6. Commit the files that you've staged in your local repository. 
    $ git commit -m "First commit"
# Commits the tracked changes and prepares them to be pushed to a remote repository. To remove this commit and modify the file, use 'git reset --soft HEAD~1' and commit and add the file again.
  7. At the top of your repository on GitHub.com's Quick Setup page, click to copy the remote repository URL. Copy remote repository URL field
  8. In Terminal, add the URL for the remote repository where your local repository will be pushed. 
    $ git remote add origin  <REMOTE_URL> 
# Sets the new remote
$ git remote -v
# Verifies the new remote URL
  9. Push the changes in your local repository to GitHub.com. 
    $ git push -u origin main
# Pushes the changes in your local repository up to the remote repository you specified as the origin
  1. Create a new repository on GitHub.com. To avoid errors, do not initialize the new repository with README, license, or gitignore files. You can add these files after your project has been pushed to GitHub. Create New Repository drop-down
  2. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.
  3. Change the current working directory to your local project.
  4. Initialize the local directory as a Git repository. 
    $ git init -b main
  5. Add the files in your new local repository. This stages them for the first commit. 
    $ git add .
# Adds the files in the local repository and stages them for commit. To unstage a file, use 'git reset HEAD YOUR-FILE'.
  6. Commit the files that you've staged in your local repository. 
    $ git commit -m "First commit"
# Commits the tracked changes and prepares them to be pushed to a remote repository. To remove this commit and modify the file, use 'git reset --soft HEAD~1' and commit and add the file again.
  7. At the top of your repository on GitHub.com's Quick Setup page, click to copy the remote repository URL. Copy remote repository URL field
  8. In the Command prompt, add the URL for the remote repository where your local repository will be pushed. 
    $ git remote add origin  <REMOTE_URL> 
# Sets the new remote
$ git remote -v
# Verifies the new remote URL
  9. Push the changes in your local repository to GitHub.com. 
    $ git push origin main
# Pushes the changes in your local repository up to the remote repository you specified as the origin
  1. Create a new repository on GitHub.com. To avoid errors, do not initialize the new repository with README, license, or gitignore files. You can add these files after your project has been pushed to GitHub. Create New Repository drop-down
  2. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.
  3. Change the current working directory to your local project.
  4. Initialize the local directory as a Git repository. 
    $ git init -b main
  5. Add the files in your new local repository. This stages them for the first commit. 
    $ git add .
# Adds the files in the local repository and stages them for commit. To unstage a file, use 'git reset HEAD YOUR-FILE'.
  6. Commit the files that you've staged in your local repository. 
    $ git commit -m "First commit"
# Commits the tracked changes and prepares them to be pushed to a remote repository. To remove this commit and modify the file, use 'git reset --soft HEAD~1' and commit and add the file again.
  7. At the top of your repository on GitHub.com's Quick Setup page, click to copy the remote repository URL. Copy remote repository URL field
  8. In Terminal, add the URL for the remote repository where your local repository will be pushed. 
    $ git remote add origin  <REMOTE_URL> 
# Sets the new remote
$ git remote -v
# Verifies the new remote URL
  9. Push the changes in your local repository to GitHub.com. 
    $ git push origin main
# Pushes the changes in your local repository up to the remote repository you specified as the origin

Further reading