Git Remote Explained: origin, upstream and Remote-Tracking Branches

A remote connects your local repository to a copy on GitHub. In this lesson you will add and manage remotes, understand origin and upstream, and read remote-tracking branches such as origin/main so push and pull make sense.

---

🌐 What Is a Remote?

So far your repository lives only on your computer. A remote is another copy of the same repository, usually on a server such as GitHub, that you can send commits to and receive commits from. Remotes are how teams share work and how your code is backed up.

A local repository can have several remotes. Each has a short name and a URL.

Name	Points to	Typical use
origin	The repository you cloned from, or your main GitHub repository	Push and pull your work
upstream	The original project you forked	Get updates from the original project (forks)

origin and upstream are only conventions; you could name a remote anything.

---

👀 List Your Remotes

git remote          # names only
git remote -v       # names and URLs

origin  git@github.com:asha-verma-qa/git-practice.git (fetch)
origin  git@github.com:asha-verma-qa/git-practice.git (push)

A repository created with git init has no remotes. A cloned repository automatically has origin.

---

➕ Add a Remote

Create an empty repository on GitHub (no README, .gitignore or licence), copy its URL, then:

git remote add origin git@github.com:asha-verma-qa/git-practice.git
git remote -v

Use the HTTPS URL (https://github.com/...) if you have not set up SSH keys.

---

✏️ Change, Rename or Remove a Remote

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/asha-verma-qa/git-practice.git   # switch SSH to HTTPS (or the reverse)
git remote rename origin github
git remote remove github

Changing the URL is common when a repository is renamed or moved to another organization, or when you switch between HTTPS and SSH.

---

🔎 Inspect a Remote

git remote show origin

* remote origin
  Fetch URL: git@github.com:asha-verma-qa/git-practice.git
  Push  URL: git@github.com:asha-verma-qa/git-practice.git
  HEAD branch: main
  Remote branches:
    main tracked
  Local branch configured for 'git pull':
    main merges with remote main
  Local ref configured for 'git push':
    main pushes to main (up to date)

---

🌿 Remote-Tracking Branches

When Git talks to a remote, it remembers the remote’s branches locally as remote-tracking branches, named origin/main, origin/feature-login and so on. They are read-only bookmarks of “where the remote was the last time I checked”.

git branch -r      # remote-tracking branches
git branch -a      # local and remote-tracking branches
git branch -vv     # local branches with their upstream and ahead/behind counts

* main 8b1d4e2 [origin/main: ahead 2] Add learning goals and initial test plan

“Ahead 2” means you have two local commits that are not on GitHub yet. “Behind 3” would mean GitHub has three commits you have not pulled.

Upstream (tracking) branch

A local branch can track a remote branch, its upstream. Then plain git push and git pull know where to go. You set it with git push -u (next lesson) or manually:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main

---

🍴 origin and upstream with Forks

When you contribute to someone else’s project, you usually fork it on GitHub and clone your fork:

git clone git@github.com:asha-verma-qa/playwright-demo.git     # your fork = origin
cd playwright-demo
git remote add upstream https://github.com/original-org/playwright-demo.git
git fetch upstream                                             # get the original project's updates

The full fork workflow is in Fork a Repository and Contribute to Open Source.

---

📝 Assignment

1. Create an empty git-practice repository on GitHub and add it as origin to your local git-practice repository.
2. Run git remote -v and git remote show origin (after the first push in the next lesson).
3. Switch the remote URL from SSH to HTTPS and back with git remote set-url.
4. Rename origin to github and back.
5. Run git branch -vv before and after making a local commit and explain “ahead”.

---

❓ FAQ

🤔 What is origin in Git?

The default name for the remote repository you cloned from or added first, usually your repository on GitHub.

🤔 What is the difference between origin and upstream?

origin is usually your own copy (often a fork). upstream is the original project you forked from, used to bring its latest changes into your fork.

🤔 How do I change the remote URL in Git?

git remote set-url origin <new-url>, then check with git remote -v.

🤔 What is origin/main?

A remote-tracking branch: Git’s local record of where main was on origin the last time you fetched or pulled.

🤔 How do I see all branches including remote ones?

git branch -a lists local and remote-tracking branches.

---

🎯 Next Steps

• 📤 git clone, push and pull Step by Step
• ⚖️ git fetch vs git pull
• 📘 Git and GitHub Tutorial: full course