Git – Tips & Tricks

🆕 Start a New Git Repository

Initialize and push a new Git repository:


git init                        # Initialize a new repo
git add .                       # Stage all files
git commit -m "first commit"    # Initial commit
git branch -M main              # Rename branch to main
git remote add origin https://github.com/OWNER/REPOSITORY
git push -u origin main         # Push to remote main

🔗 Change the Remote Repository URL

Update an existing remote URL:


git remote set-url origin https://github.com/OWNER/REPOSITORY

🧹 Cleanup & Optimize a Git Repository

Free up space and optimize Git internals:


git reflog expire --all --expire=now
git gc --prune=now --aggressive

🧬 Clone All GitHub Repositories (User or Org)

Works on Windows, macOS, or Linux using Git Bash:


CNTX={users|orgs}; PAGE=1
curl "https://api.github.com/$CNTX/OWNER/repos?page=$PAGE&per_page=100" |
  grep -e 'clone_url' |
  cut -d \" -f 4 |
  xargs -L1 git clone

Set CNTX=users to download your personal repositories, or CNTX=orgs for your organization’s repositories.

⚠️

GitHub API limits results to 100 per page. Increase the PAGE variable to fetch all repositories across multiple pages.

🗑️ Delete a Branch in Git

Delete a local branch:


git branch -d branch_name      # Safe delete
git branch -D branch_name      # Force delete (use with caution)

Delete a remote branch:


git push origin --delete branch_name

This command tells Git to delete the branch from the remote repository (like GitHub or GitLab).