After Git clone from GitHub, I do not see my branch

Question

I have a repository on GitHub. It contains master and one branch.

When I clone it, I obtain only master and do not see my branch.

Why i

Answer 1

By default, git clone creates only one branch: the currently checked out one, generally master. However, it does create remote tracking branches for all other branches in the remote. Think of these as local copies of the remote's branches, which can be updated by fetching. They're not real local branches, as they're intended only as pointers to where the remote's branches are, not for you to work on.

If you run git branch -a you'll see all branches, local and remote. If you want to see just the remote ones, use git branch -r. If you prefer a visual history display, try gitk --all (or gitk --remotes).

To create a local branch to work on, use

git branch <branch-name> origin/<branch-name>

That'll create a new local branch using the remote's branch as the starting point.

Answer 2

You can directly do:

git checkout <original-remote-branch-name>

This automatically creates a local branch which tracks the remote branch with the same name. Do this always after cloning, if you want to work on a particular branch other than master.

Note: When you clone the remote name is by default 'origin' which is different from the remote name used in other machines where you are developing. So, you can initially name your remote before cloning or push to origin ever after.

Answer 3

Use:

git branch -r

This will show you all remote branches. You can then do:

git branch -t my_local_branch origin/remote_branch
git checkout my_local_branch

Then do your work and then push to the remote branch.