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Get started with Git in Azure Repos

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Visual Studio 2019 | Visual Studio 2017 | Visual Studio 2015 | Visual Studio 2013

Get started with developing your code using Azure Repos and Git repositories. You can use Visual Studio or Git commands to clone a repository, define local branches, commit and push changes, and sync with others. If you need to create or import a repository, see Create a new Git repo in your project or Import a Git repository.

Note

This article describes how to use Visual Studio to manage Azure Repos Git repositories. Using similar procedures, you can use Visual Studio to manage GitHub repositories. To clone a GitHub repository, get the URL as described in Cloning a repository.

For an overview of the Git workflow, see Azure Repos Git tutorial.

Note

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later versions provide a new Git menu for managing the Git workflow with less context switching than Team Explorer. Procedures provided in this article under the Visual Studio 2019 tab provide information for using the Git experience as well as Team Explorer. To learn more, see Side-by-side comparison of Git and Team Explorer.

Prerequisites

  • To view code, you must be a member of an Azure DevOps project with Basic access or higher. If you aren't a project member, get added.

  • To clone or contribute to code, you must be a member of the Contributors security group or have the corresponding permissions.

To learn more about permissions and access, see Default Git repository and branch permissions and About access levels.

Get your code

You can clone a remote Git repository to create a local copy of it. Cloning creates both a copy of the source code for you to work with and version control information so Git can manage the source code.

If you prefer to create a local repository without cloning, see Create a new Git repo. After creating your local repository you can proceed to commit, share, and sync your work.

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later versions provides a Git version control experience while maintaining the Team Explorer Git user interface. You can exercise Git features from either interface interchangeably. Below, we provide a side-by-side comparison for cloning a repository.

Note

One advantage of connecting to a project through Team Explorer is you gain access to the Work Items hub. For an overview of Team Explorer features, see Navigate in Visual Studio Team Explorer.

Visual Studio Git

  1. From the Git menu on the menu bar, choose Clone Repository...

Screenshot of the 'Clone Repository' option in the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. In the Clone a repository window, enter the remote repo location and the folder path for the cloned repo. If you don't know the remote repo location, select Azure DevOps from Browse a repository options.

Screenshot of the 'Clone Repository' window in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Select Clone. After you’ve cloned a Git repository, Visual Studio detects the repository and adds it to your list of Local Repositories in the Git menu.

Screenshot of the 'Local Repositories' option in the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019.

Visual Studio Team Explorer

  1. In Team Explorer, select Connect to open the Connect page, and then choose Manage Connections > Connect to Project.

Screenshot of the 'Connect to a Project' link in Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. In the Connect to a Project window, choose the repo you want to clone and select Clone. If you don't see your repo, select Add Azure DevOps Server to add a server that hosts a repo. You can filter the list to find your repo.

Screenshot of the 'Connect to a Project' window in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Verify the location for the cloned repo on your computer, and then select Clone.

Commit your work

Git branches isolate your changes from other work in the project. The recommended Git workflow is to use a new branch for every feature or fix you work on. You make commits in your local Git repository to save your changes on that branch.

Visual Studio Git

  1. From the Git menu on the menu bar, choose New Branch... to open the Create a new branch window.

Screenshot of the 'New Branch' option in the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. In the Create a new branch window, enter a descriptive branch name to let others know what work the branch contains. By default, Visual Studio creates your new branch from the current branch. The Checkout branch checkbox automatically switches you to the newly created branch. Select Create.

Screenshot of the 'Create a new branch' window in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Add a README.md file to your cloned repo. In Solution Explorer, you can browse the repo contents using Folder View or open Visual Studio solutions in the repo. Git tracks changes made both inside and outside of Visual Studio.

  2. When you're satisfied with your changes, save them in Git using a commit. In the Git Changes window, enter a message that describes the changes, and then select Commit All. Commit All commits unstaged changes and skips the staging area. You can choose to stage all files before committing by selecting the stage all + (plus) button at the top of the Changes section in the Git Changes window.

Screenshot of the 'Commit All' button in the 'Git Changes' window in Visual Studio 2019.

Select the commit information link to get further details about the commit.

Screenshot showing the commit information link in Visual Studio 2019.

Visual Studio Team Explorer

  1. In Team Explorer, select the Home button and choose Branches.

Screenshot showing the Branches option in Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Right-click the default branch, often named main, and then choose New Local Branch From...

Screenshot of the 'New Local Branch From' menu option in the context menu of the main branch in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Enter a descriptive branch name to let others know what work the branch contains. Select Create Branch.

Screenshot of the branch name text and 'Create Branch' button in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Add an README.md file to your cloned repo. From the Home view of Team Explorer, you can browse the repo contents using Show Folder View or open Visual Studio solutions in the repo. Git tracks changes made both inside and outside of Visual Studio.

  2. When you're satisfied with your changes, save them in Git using a commit. Open the Changes view of Team Explorer by selecting the Home button and choosing Changes.

Screenshot of the Changes option in Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Enter a message that describes the commit, and then select Commit All.

Screenshot of commit message text and 'Commit All' button in Visual Studio 2019.

Note

If you have multiple files and you don't want to commit them all, you can right-click each file and choose Stage. When you've staged all the files you'd like to commit, select Commit Staged. Commit Staged replaces Commit All when you manually stage your changes.

Visual Studio Git

Screenshot of the Stage option in the 'Git Changes' window in Visual Studio 2019.

Visual Studio Team Explorer

Screenshot of the Stage option in the changed-file context menu in Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

Share your changes

After you've added one or more commits to a branch and you're ready to share those changes with others, push your commits so others can see them.

Once you've pushed your commits, you can create a pull request. A pull request lets others know you'd like to have your changes reviewed. After approval, a pull request typically adds your changes to the default branch of the remote repository.

Visual Studio Git

  1. In the Git Changes window, select the up-arrow push button to push your commit.

Screenshot of the up-arrow push button in the 'Git Changes' window of Visual Studio 2019.

Or, you can push your changes from the Git Repository window. To open the Git Repository window, select the outgoing / incoming link in the Git Changes window.

Screenshot of the 'outgoing / incoming' link in the 'Git Changes' window, and the Push link in the 'Git Repository' window of Visual Studio 2019.

Or, you can push your changes from the Git menu on the menu bar.

Screenshot of the Push option from the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Create a pull request so that others can review your changes. If you've just pushed your changes from the Git Changes window, you can select the Create a Pull Request link to open a web browser where you can create a new pull request in the Azure Repos web portal.

Screenshot of the 'Create a Pull Request' link in the 'Git Changes' window in Visual Studio 2019.

Or, if you've just pushed your changes from the Git Repository window, you can select the Create a Pull Request link at the top of that window.

Screenshot of the 'Create a Pull Request' link in the 'Git Repository' window in Visual Studio 2019.

Or, you can right-click any branch in the Git Repository window and select Create Pull Request.

Screenshot of the 'Create a Pull Request' menu option from the branch context menu in the 'Git Repository' window in Visual Studio 2019.

Visual Studio Team Explorer

  1. In Team Explorer, select Home and then choose Sync to open Synchronization.

Screenshot of the Sync option in Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

You can also go to the Synchronization view from Changes by choosing Sync immediately after making a commit.

Screenshot of the Sync link that appears after making a commit in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. In the Synchronization view, choose Push to upload your commit to the remote repo. If this is your first push to the repo, you'll see the message: The current branch does not track a remote branch..., which lets you know that your commit was pushed to a new branch on the remote repo and that future commits pushed from the current branch will be uploaded to that remote branch.

Screenshot of the Push link in the Synchronization view of Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Create a pull request so that others can review your changes. Open Pull Requests in Team Explorer by selecting Home and choosing Pull Requests.

Screenshot of the 'Pull Requests' option in Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. In Pull Requests, you can view pull requests opened by you, assigned to you, and you can create new pull requests. Select New Pull Request to open a web browser where you can create a new pull request in the Azure Repos web portal.

Screenshot of the 'New Pull Request' link in the Pull Requests view of Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.

When the pull request opens in the Azure Repos web portal, verify your source and destination branches. In this example, we want to merge commits from the add-readme-file branch into the main branch. Enter a title and optional description, specify any reviewers, optionally associate any work items, and then select Create.

Screenshot of the 'New Pull Request' form in the Azure Repos web portal.

For more information on pull requests, see the Pull request tutorial.

Sync with others

You can keep your local branches in sync with their remote counterparts by pulling commits created by others. Although Git is good at merging incoming changes with your changes, sometimes you might have to resolve a merge conflict. While you're working on your feature branch, it's a good idea to periodically switch to your main branch and pull new commits to keep it current with the remote main branch.

Visual Studio Git

In the Git Changes window, you can keep your local branch current with its remote counterpart by using the Fetch, Pull, Push, and Sync buttons.

Screenshot of the Fetch, Pull, Push and Sync buttons in the 'Git Changes' window of Visual Studio 2019.

From left to right in the previous screenshot, the button controls are:

  • Fetch downloads remote commits that aren't in your local branch, but doesn't merge them.
  • Pull performs a fetch and then merges the downloaded commits into your local branch.
  • Push uploads your unpushed commits to the remote repository, which adds them to the corresponding remote branch.
  • Sync performs a Pull then a Push.

You can also select Fetch, Pull, Push, and Sync from the Git menu.

Screenshot of the Fetch, Pull, Push and Sync options in the Git menu in Visual Studio 2019.

Visual Studio Team Explorer

  1. In Team Explorer, select Home and choose Sync to open Synchronization.

Screenshot of the Sync option in 'Team Explorer' in Visual Studio 2019.

  1. You can download the latest changes to your branch using the Pull link. There are two Pull links, one near the top and one in the Incoming Commits section. You can use either because they both do the same thing.

Screenshot of the Pull link in the Synchronization view of Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2019.