The git remote rename
command takes two arguments:
- An existing remote name, for example,
origin
- A new name for the remote, for example,
destination
Example
These examples assume you're cloning using HTTPS, which is recommended.
$ git remote -v
# View existing remotes
> origin https://hostname/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git (fetch)
> origin https://hostname/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git (push)
$ git remote rename origin destination
# Change remote name from 'origin' to 'destination'
$ git remote -v
# Verify remote's new name
> destination https://hostname/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git (fetch)
> destination https://hostname/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git (push)
Troubleshooting
You may encounter these errors when trying to rename a remote.
Could not rename config section 'remote.[old name]' to 'remote.[new name]'
This error means that the remote you tried the old remote name you typed doesn't exist.
You can check which remotes currently exist with the git remote -v
command:
$ git remote -v
# View existing remotes
> origin https://hostname/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git (fetch)
> origin https://hostname/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git (push)
Remote [new name] already exists.
This error means that the remote name you want to use already exists. To solve this, either use a different remote name, or rename the original remote.