2. Clone - copy online repo to local computer

Cloning is just creating a local copy of an online repository.

Key Terms

• Repository (repo) is a folder that contains files tracked by git.
• init Create a new repo
• clone Make a clone/copy of an existing remote repo to local machine

2.1 Open GitHub Desktop

Open the GitHub desktop app and click Clone a repository from the internet

Note if you have already used GitHub desktop before. You will see a different UI. You can clone by going to File > Clone repository

2.2 Search for the repo you want to clone

Search in the highlight input box for the name of your repo. For example, we are can start typing hello-my-first-repo which we created in the previous module. We can see that GitHub Desktop found it; make sure to click the repository you want to clone if there are multiple choices.

2.3 Choose a local folder where to copy the repo

You should specify where on your local computer you want to create a clone/copy of the online repo. In general it is a good idea to have all your git repository in the same folder to organize things!.

2.4 Click clone

Once you have your online repo and local folder selected then you can click Clone to start the cloning process.

2.5 Ready to make local changes!

After the cloning process. Your GitHub desktop should now show the status of your newly cloned repository.