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Link a Local Git Repository to GitHub

Steps:

  1. Create a repo on GitHub (or get its clone URL).
  2. On your machine: generate SSH key or prepare a Personal Access Token (HTTPS).
  3. Initialize or open your local repo, add remote (origin), and push (git push -u origin main).
  4. Verify and use the normal fetch/pull/push workflow.

1) Prepare your identity locally (git user config):

Replace your username & email with your actual username and email ID:

  git config --global user.name "Your User_Name"
  git config --global user.email "your@email.com"

2) Authentication options

A. SSH key (Preferred for developer machines)

  1. Generate an ed25519 key — replace your email with your actual email ID:
  ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your@email.com"

  #Accept default (~/.ssh/id_ed25519) or give a custom name if you already have keys
  1. Start the SSH agent and add the key:
# Start agent
  eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

# Add key to agent
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  1. Add SSH config(Optional):
cd ~/.ssh/config
Host github.com
  HostName github.com
  User git
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  ServerAliveInterval 60
  ServerAliveCountMax 5
  TCPKeepAlive yes
  1. Copy the public key and add it to your GitHub account:
  cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
  1. Test the connection:
  ssh -T git@github.com

B. HTTPS using Personal Access Token (PAT)

  • GitHub no longer accepts passwords for HTTPS Git — use a PAT.
  • Create PAT in GitHub: Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens.
  • Example:
  git clone https://github.com/OWNER/REPO.git

3) Create or connect to a GitHub repo

A. Remote repo exists

Find repo clone URL on GitHub → Code button.

B. New local project

On GitHub: New repository → follow commands to push existing repo.

4) Full workflows for Local repo commands

Init local repo and push first time

  cd ~/my-project
  git init
  git add .
  git commit -m "Initial commit"
  git branch -M main
  git remote add origin git@github.com:OWNER/REPO.git
  git push -u origin main

Add/change remote

  git remote add origin git@github.com:OWNER/REPO.git
  git remote -v
  git remote set-url origin git@github.com:OWNER/NEWREPO.git
  git remote remove origin

5) Daily workflow (fetch, pull, push)

  git fetch origin
  git pull origin main
  git config pull.rebase true
  git push origin main

6) Upstream/tracking branches

  git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main
  git push --set-upstream origin feature/x
  git branch -vv

7) Common Problems and Solutions

  • Permission denied (publickey) → Check SSH key, agent, GitHub settings.
  • Host key verification failed → Update known_hosts.
  • Password authentication removed → Use PAT.
  • Stale remote-tracking branches → git remote prune origin.

8) Best practices

  • Prefer ed25519 keys.
  • Use --force-with-lease instead of --force.
  • Never commit secrets.

9) One Shot Complete Guide:

  ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your@email.com"
  eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub                                        #Copy the public key and add it to your GitHub account
  ssh -T git@github.com

  git init
  git add .
  git commit -m "Initial commit"
  git branch -M main
  git remote add origin git@github.com:OWNER/REPO.git
  git push -u origin main

  git remote set-url origin git@github.com:OWNER/NEWREPO.git
  git remote remove origin

  git fetch origin
  git pull origin main
  git push