Pushing commits to a remote repository

About git push

The git push command takes two arguments:

• A remote name, for example, origin
• A branch name, for example, main

For example:

git push  <REMOTENAME> <BRANCHNAME> 

As an example, you usually run git push origin main to push your local changes to your online repository.

Renaming branches

To rename a branch, you'd use the same git push command, but you would add one more argument: the name of the new branch. For example:

git push  <REMOTENAME> <LOCALBRANCHNAME>:<REMOTEBRANCHNAME> 

This pushes the LOCALBRANCHNAME to your REMOTENAME, but it is renamed to REMOTEBRANCHNAME.

Dealing with "non-fast-forward" errors

If your local copy of a repository is out of sync with, or "behind," the upstream repository you're pushing to, you'll get a message saying non-fast-forward updates were rejected. This means that you must retrieve, or "fetch," the upstream changes, before you are able to push your local changes.

For more information on this error, see "Dealing with non-fast-forward errors."

Pushing tags

By default, and without additional parameters, git push sends all matching branches that have the same names as remote branches.

To push a single tag, you can issue the same command as pushing a branch:

git push  <REMOTENAME> <TAGNAME> 

To push all your tags, you can type the command:

git push  <REMOTENAME> --tags

Deleting a remote branch or tag

The syntax to delete a branch is a bit arcane at first glance:

git push  <REMOTENAME> :<BRANCHNAME> 

Note that there is a space before the colon. The command resembles the same steps you'd take to rename a branch. However, here, you're telling Git to push nothing into BRANCHNAME on REMOTENAME. Because of this, git push deletes the branch on the remote repository.

Remotes and forks

You might already know that you can "fork" repositories on GitHub.

When you clone a repository you own, you provide it with a remote URL that tells Git where to fetch and push updates. If you want to collaborate with the original repository, you'd add a new remote URL, typically called upstream, to your local Git clone:

git remote add upstream  <THEIR_REMOTE_URL> 

Now, you can fetch updates and branches from their fork:

git fetch upstream
# Grab the upstream remote's branches
> remote: Counting objects: 75, done.
> remote: Compressing objects: 100% (53/53), done.
> remote: Total 62 (delta 27), reused 44 (delta 9)
> Unpacking objects: 100% (62/62), done.
> From https://hostname/octocat/repo
>  * [new branch]      main     -> upstream/main

When you're done making local changes, you can push your local branch to GitHub and initiate a pull request.

For more information on working with forks, see "Syncing a fork".

Further reading

• The "Remotes" chapter from the "Pro Git" book
• git remote main page
• "Git cheatsheet"
• "Git workflows"
• "Git Handbook"