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Tutorial: Open a project from a repo

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In this tutorial, you use Visual Studio to connect to a repository for the first time, clone it, and then open a project from it.

If you don't have Visual Studio yet, go to the Visual Studio downloads page to install it for free.

Open a project from a GitHub repo

Visual Studio makes it easy to open a project from a repo. You can do so when you start Visual Studio, or you can do so directly from within the Visual Studio IDE.

Here's how.

Use the start window

  1. Open Visual Studio.

  2. On the start window, select Clone a repository.

    Screenshot of the Clone a Repository dialog in Visual Studio.

  3. Enter or type the repository location, and then select the Clone button.

    Screenshot of the Clone a Repository dialog in Visual Studio where you enter a Git repo URL.

  4. If you're not already signed in, you might be prompted to sign into Visual Studio or your GitHub account.

    Tip

    For more information about signing in to Visual Studio, see the Sign in to Visual Studio page. For specific information about how to use your GitHub account to sign in, see the Work with GitHub accounts in Visual Studio page. And if you receive a trust notification and want to know more about it, see the Configure trust settings for files and folders page.

View files in Solution Explorer

  1. Next, Visual Studio loads the solution(s) from the repository by using the Folder View in Solution Explorer.

    Screenshot of the Folder View in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio 2022.

    You can view a solution in Solution View by double-clicking its .sln file.

    You can select the Switch Views button to switch between folder view and solution view.

    Screenshot of a C# project in Git that's open in Solution Explorer

Tip

You can change from the default Folder View to Solution View from the Git menu. Select Settings > Source Control > Git Global Settings > Automatically load the solution when opening a Git repository to do so.

Open a project locally from a previously cloned GitHub repo

  1. Open Visual Studio.

  2. On the start window, select Open a project or solution.

    Visual Studio opens an instance of File Explorer, where you can browse to your solution or project, and then select it to open it.

    Screenshot of the 'Open a project or solution' window in Visual Studio 2022.

    Tip

    If you opened the project or solution recently, select it from the Open recent section to quickly open it again.

    Start coding!

Use the IDE

You can also use the Git menu or the Select Repository control in the Visual Studio IDE to interact with a repository's folders and files.

Here's how.

To clone a repo and open a project

  1. In the Visual Studio IDE, select the Git menu, and then select Clone Repository.

    Screenshot of the Git menu in Visual Studio 2022 with Clone Repository selected.

  2. Follow the prompts to connect to the Git repository that includes the files you're looking for.

To open local folders and files

  1. In the Visual Studio IDE, select the Git menu, select Local Repositories, and then select Open Local Repository.

    Screenshot of the Git menu in Visual Studio 2022 with the Local Repository and Open Local Repository showing.

  2. Follow the prompts to connect to the Git repository that has the files you're looking for.

Browse to an Azure DevOps repo

Here's how to browse to and clone an Azure DevOps repo by using Visual Studio.

  1. Open Visual Studio.

  2. On the start window, select Clone a repository.

    Screenshot of the Clone a Repository dialog in Visual Studio, for Azure DevOps.

  3. In the Browse a repository section, select Azure DevOps.

    Screenshot of the 'Browse a repository' section of the 'Clone a repository' dialog box in Visual Studio, Azure DevOps highlighted.

  4. Follow the prompts to clone an Azure DevOps repo that includes the files you're looking for, and then open your project.

Open a project from a GitHub repo with Visual Studio 2019

How you open a project from a GitHub repo by using Visual Studio depends on which version you have. Specifically, if you installed version Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 or later, there's a new, more fully integrated Git experience in Visual Studio available to you.

But no matter which version you installed, you can always open a project from a GitHub repo with Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later

Here's how to use Git in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 or later.

Clone a GitHub repo and then open a project

  1. Open Visual Studio 2019.

  2. On the start window, select Clone a repository.

    Screenshot of the Clone a Repository dialog in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later

  3. Enter or type the repository location, and then select Clone.

    Screenshot of the Clone a Repository dialog where you enter a Git repo URL in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

  4. You might be asked for your user sign-in information in the Git User Information dialog box. You can either add your information or edit the default information it provides.

    Screenshot of the Git User Information dialog where you enter or edit your account info in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

    Select Save to add the info to your global .gitconfig file. (Or, you can select Cancel if you'd like to save the info later.)

    Tip

    For more information about signing in to Visual Studio, see the Sign in to Visual Studio page. And for specific information about how to use your GitHub account to sign in, see the Work with GitHub accounts in Visual Studio page.

    Next, Visual Studio automatically loads and opens the solution from the repository.

    Screenshot of a project in Git that's open in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

  5. If your repository contains multiple solutions, Solution Explorer displays them. For a list view of the solutions, select the Switch Views button in Solution Explorer.

    Screenshot of a project in Git that's open in Solution Explorer, with the Switch Views button highlighted in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

    Solution Explorer then gives you the option to open the root folder in Folder View or to select a solution file to open.

    Screenshot of the .sln file in Git that's open in Solution Explorer, after you've selected the Switch Views button in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

    To toggle the view, select the Switch Views button again.

    Tip

    You can also use the Git menu in the Visual Studio IDE to clone a repo and open a project.

    Screenshot of the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

Open a project locally from a previously cloned GitHub repo

  1. Open Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 or later.

  2. On the start window, select Open a project or solution.

    Visual Studio opens an instance of File Explorer, where you can browse to your solution or project, and then select it to open it.

    Screenshot of the 'Open a project or solution' window in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

    If you opened the project or solution recently, select it from the Open recent section to quickly open it again.

    Tip

    You can also use the Git menu in the Visual Studio IDE to open local folders and files from a repo that you previously cloned.

    Screenshot of the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later, with the Local Repositories option expanded.

    Start coding!

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier

Here's how to use Git in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 or earlier.

Clone a GitHub repo and then open a project

  1. Open Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 or earlier.

  2. On the start window, select Clone or check out code.

    Screenshot of the 'Create a new project' window in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

  3. Enter or type the repository location, and then select Clone.

    Screenshot of the 'Clone or checkout code' window in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

    Visual Studio opens the project from the repo.

  4. If you have a solution file available, it appears in the "Solutions and Folders" fly-out menu. Select it, and Visual Studio opens your solution.

    Screenshot of the Solution Explorer drop-down list in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

    If you do not have a solution file (specifically, an .sln file) in your repo, the fly-out menu says "No Solutions Found." However, you can double-click any file from the folder menu to open it in the Visual Studio editor.

    Start coding!

Browse to an Azure DevOps repo with Visual Studio 2019

What you see when you browse to and clone an Azure DevOps repository by using Visual Studio 2019 depends on which version you have. With version version 16.8 or later, the UI accommodates a new, more fully integrated Git experience in Visual Studio in Visual Studio.

But no matter which version you installed, you can always browse to and clone an Azure DevOps repo with Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later

  1. Open Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 or later.

  2. On the start window, select Clone a repository.

    Screenshot of the Clone a Repository dialog in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later, for Azure DevOps.

  3. In the Browse a repository section, select Azure DevOps.

    Screenshot of the 'Browse a repository' section of the The 'Connect to a Project' dialog box in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and and later.

  4. If you see a sign-in window, sign in to your account.

  5. In the Connect to a Project dialog box, choose the repo that you want to connect to, and then select Clone.

    Screenshot of the 'Connect to a Project' dialog box that's generated from Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

    Tip

    If you don't see a pre-populated list of repos to connect to, select Add Azure DevOps Server to enter a server URL. (Alternatively, you might see a "No servers found" prompt that includes links to add an existing Azure DevOps Server or to create an Azure DevOps account.)

    Next, Visual Studio opens Solution Explorer that shows the folders and files.

  6. Select the Team Explorer tab to view the Azure DevOps actions.

    Screenshot of the 'Team Explorer' dialog box that's generated from Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later.

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier

  1. Open Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 or earlier.

  2. On the start window, select Clone or check out code.

    Screenshot of the 'Create a new project' window in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

  3. In the Browse a repository section, select Azure DevOps.

    Screenshot of the 'Clone or check out code' window with the 'Browse a repository' section that lists Azure DevOps in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

    If you see a sign-in window, sign in to your account.

  4. In the Connect to a Project dialog box, choose the repo that you want to connect to, and then select Clone.

    Screenshot of the 'Connect to a Project' dialog box that's generated from Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

    Note

    What you see in the list box depends on the Azure DevOps repositories that you have access to.

    Visual Studio opens Team Explorer and a notification appears when the clone is complete.

    Screenshot of the Team Explorer window in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier, after clone is complete.

  5. To view your folders and files, select the Show Folder View link.

    Screenshot of the Solutions section of the Team Explorer window in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier, after clone is complete.

    Visual Studio opens Solution Explorer.

  6. Choose the Solutions and Folders link to search for a solution file (specifically, an .sln file) to open.

    Screenshot of the 'Solutions and Folders' notification from Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7 and earlier.

    If you do not have a solution file in your repo, a 'No Solutions Found' message appears. However, you can double-click any file from the folder menu to open it in the Visual Studio editor.

Next steps

Feel free to dive into any of the following language-specific tutorials:

See also