Skip to main content

​
Syntax

repo get <repository-url>

​
Description

The repo get command clones a Git repository using a bare + worktree layout. This approach stores all Git data in a .bare directory and creates worktrees in separate subdirectories for each branch.

​
How It Works

  1. Cleans and normalizes the repository URL
  2. Determines the target directory under $REPO_BASE_DIR
  3. Performs a bare clone into .bare directory
  4. Configures fetch refspecs for the remote
  5. Detects the default branch (typically main or master)
  6. Creates an initial worktree for the default branch
  7. Sets up upstream tracking
  8. Changes to the worktree directory

​
Arguments

​
repository-url
string
required
The repository to clone. Supports multiple URL formats:
  • Full URLs: https://github.com/user/repo.git
  • SSH URLs: [email protected]:user/repo.git
  • Short form: github.com/user/repo
  • GitHub shorthand: user/repo (automatically expands to github.com/user/repo)

​
Examples

​
Clone from GitHub (full URL)

repo get https://github.com/torvalds/linux
Clones to $REPO_BASE_DIR/github.com/torvalds/linux/ with the default branch worktree at $REPO_BASE_DIR/github.com/torvalds/linux/main/

​
Clone from GitHub (short form)

repo get torvalds/linux
Automatically expands to github.com/torvalds/linux and clones the repository.

​
Clone from GitLab

repo get gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab

​
Clone using SSH URL

repo get [email protected]:user/private-repo.git

​
Behavior

​
Repository Already Exists

If the repository already exists: Worktree layout (.bare directory present): 
Repository already exists (worktree layout): /path/to/repo
The command will navigate to the repository without re-cloning. Standard layout (.git directory present): 
Repository already exists (standard layout): /path/to/repo
Use 'repo convert' to migrate to worktree layout.
The command will navigate to the repository and suggest using repo convert.

​
Directory Structure

After cloning, the repository structure looks like: 
github.com/user/repo/
├── .bare/              # Bare repository (all Git data)
├── .git                # File pointing to .bare
└── main/               # Worktree for default branch
    ├── .git            # File linking to .bare/worktrees/main
    └── ...             # Working files
  • repo goto - Navigate to a cloned repository
  • repo convert - Convert existing repositories to worktree layout
  • repo list - List all cloned repositories

​
Common Use Cases

​
Clone and start working

repo get user/project
# Automatically navigates to the default branch worktree

​
Clone multiple repositories

repo get facebook/react
repo get vuejs/vue
repo get angular/angular
All repositories are organized under $REPO_BASE_DIR by their hosting domain and path.

​
Implementation Details

Source code: functions/clone.zsh:1 The command uses git clone --bare followed by git worktree add to set up the repository structure. It automatically configures the fetch refspec with: 
git config remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
This ensures that git fetch will update all remote branches correctly in the bare repository.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us