How to Change the URL of a Remote Repository in Git?

When using Git, changing the URL of a remote repository is a common operation, especially when the location of the remote repository changes or when you need to switch to another remote repository. Here are the steps and examples:

1. View Current Remote Repository Configuration

First, you can use the git remote -v command to view the list of configured remote repositories and their URLs. This helps you confirm which remote repository you want to change.

bash
git remote -v

For example, the output may be:

shell
origin  https://github.com/user/repo.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/user/repo.git (push)

2. Change the URL of the Remote Repository

To change the URL of a configured remote repository, use the git remote set-url command. You need to specify the name of the remote repository (usually origin) and the new URL.

bash
git remote set-url origin https://github.com/newuser/newrepo.git

This command will change the URL of the origin remote repository from https://github.com/user/repo.git to https://github.com/newuser/newrepo.git.

3. Verify the Changes

After the change, you can run git remote -v again to confirm that the URL of the remote repository has been updated.

bash
git remote -v

The updated output may be:

shell
origin  https://github.com/newuser/newrepo.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/newuser/newrepo.git (push)

Example

Suppose my original remote repository is located at GitHub on https://github.com/oldusername/oldrepo.git, and I need to change it to https://github.com/newusername/newrepo.git. I will follow these steps:

1. Open the terminal.
2. Run git remote -v to confirm the current remote repository.
3. Execute git remote set-url origin https://github.com/newusername/newrepo.git to update the URL.
4. Run git remote -v again to confirm the URL has been changed.

This successfully changes the remote repository's URL, ensuring that all future fetch, push, and similar operations target the new repository.