Skip to content

How to remove a Git remote

I had this need. I wanted to create an exact copy of an existing website, and put it in a subdomain, as an archive.

Now this site is under version control, and I wanted to retain the Git history but also deploy it to a new GitHub repo, so I could deploy it separately, now both sites could go on their own destiny.

The website is a Hugo site, so I just copied the website folder into a separate folder, and that was it, locally.

So I went into the copied site folder in the terminal, and I ran

git remote -v

this listed the existing GitHub repository as the “origin” remote.

I ran:

git remote rm origin

This removed the origin remote, so running git remote -v didn’t return anything any more.

Now since I use GitHub Desktop I just dragged the folder in that app, and I was able to create a new, different GitHub repository from there.


→ Want to actually learn Git? Want to stop feeling frustrated with it? I created the Git Masterclass to solve this problem!

→ I wrote 17 books to help you become a better developer:

  • C Handbook
  • Command Line Handbook
  • CSS Handbook
  • Express Handbook
  • Git Cheat Sheet
  • Go Handbook
  • HTML Handbook
  • JS Handbook
  • Laravel Handbook
  • Next.js Handbook
  • Node.js Handbook
  • PHP Handbook
  • Python Handbook
  • React Handbook
  • SQL Handbook
  • Svelte Handbook
  • Swift Handbook
...download them all now!

Also, JOIN MY CODING BOOTCAMP, an amazing cohort course that will be a huge step up in your coding career - covering React, Next.js - next edition February 2025

Bootcamp 2025

Join the waiting list