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Cloning a GitHub Repository

  • This guide explains how to clone a repository from GitHub to your local machine using the GitHub website and Git.
  • Clone “downloading” the repository to your local machine.
  • This allows you to work on the project locally and push changes back to the remote repository.

Task: Clone the repository locally

1: Find the Repository

  1. Go to https://github.com and log in.
  2. Navigate to the repository you want to clone.

2: Copy the Repository URL

  1. Click the green Code button on the repository page.
  2. Choose the desired protocol:
    • HTTPS (recommended for most users)
    • SSH (requires SSH key setup from setup step 1)
    • GitHub CLI
  3. Click the clipboard icon to copy the URL.

Clone Repository

3a: Clone the Repository Locally (CLI)

  1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
  2. Run the following command, replacing <URL> with the copied repository URL:
  3. A new folder with the repository’s name will be created in your current directory. 
    git clone <URL> [<local-directory>]

3b: Clone the Repository (VSCode)

  1. Open Visual Studio Code.
  2. Go to the Source Control view (Ctrl+Shift+G or Cmd+Shift+G on Mac).
  3. Click on the “Clone Repository” button.
  4. Paste the copied repository URL and choose a local directory.
  5. Click “Clone” to create a local copy of the repository.

Clone VSCode

4: Start Working

  1. Change into the repository directory: 
    cd <repository-name>
  2. You can now start working with the code locally.

Additional Resources