You can transfer a repository owned by your organization to your personal user account or to another organization that you have admin or owner permissions with.

Warning:

  • Forking a repository is NOT the same as transferring it. Forking just creates a copy of the original repository.
  • If you create a new repository under your account with the same name as the transferred repository, existing redirects to the transferred repository will break. Instead, use a different name for the new repository.

Transferring to another organization

The user transferring a repository must have owner or admin permissions in both organizations to complete a repository transfer.

Once a repository is transferred to an organization, the organization's default repository permission settings will apply to the transferred repository. For example, if your default repository permission settings allow organization members read/write access, then all organization members can clone, pull, and push all repositories, including transferred repositories. Outside collaborators will still have access to the transferred repository and users with admin or owner access can invite more members or outside collaborators and adjust their permissions. For more information, see "Permission levels for an organization repository" for more information.

Transferring to your personal user account

To transfer a repository owned by your organization to your personal user account, you must ensure that:

  • your personal user account has admin or owner permissions in the organization that owns the repository.
  • you sign in to your personal user account before initiating the repository transfer.

If an organization owner wants to transfer a repository owned by the organization to a team member's personal user account, then the organization owner must ensure that the team member has admin permissions to the organization so the team member can initiate the transfer themselves.

If you transfer a repository from an organization to a user account, only issues assigned to the repository's owner are kept. All other issue assignees are removed.

Transferring a repository to another organization or to your personal user account

  1. Sign into your personal user account that has admin or owner permissions in the organization that owns the repository.
  2. On GitHub Enterprise, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  3. In the repository's right sidebar, click Settings. Repository settings button

  4. Click Transfer. Transfer button

  5. Read the warnings and enter the repository name to confirm that you've done so.
  6. Type the name of the new owner and click I understand, transfer this repo. Transfer button

Further reading