Adding a remote

In this article

• Troubleshooting
• Further reading

The git remote add command takes two arguments:

• A remote name, for example, origin
• A remote URL, for example, https://[hostname]/user/repo.git

For example:

$ git remote add origin https://hostname/user/repo.git
# Set a new remote

$ git remote -v
# Verify new remote
> origin  https://hostname/user/repo.git (fetch)
> origin  https://hostname/user/repo.git (push)

Not sure which URL to use? Check out "Which remote URL should I use?"

Troubleshooting

You may encounter these errors when trying to add a remote.

Remote name already exists

This error means you've tried to add a remote with a name that already exists in your local repository:

$ git remote add origin https://hostname/octocat/Spoon-Knife
> fatal: remote origin already exists.

To fix this, you can

• Use a different name for the new remote
• Rename the existing remote
• Delete the existing remote

Further reading

• "Working with Remotes" from the Pro Git book