I accidentally forked a repository on GitHub while browsing through some project I wanted to study. Now this fork shows up in my repositories list and I don’t actually need it since I’m just learning from the code.
I have a couple of questions about GitHub forks:
When I make changes to my forked repository, those changes only affect the original project if the maintainer accepts my pull request, correct?
If I use the delete button in the repository settings, will this have any impact on the source repository?
Since I’m only examining the code for learning purposes, I want to get rid of this unnecessary fork from my account.
To remove the fork you created, navigate to your repository’s settings and look for the delete option in the danger zone section. Clicking this will permanently delete the fork from your account without affecting the original repository. I’ve done this myself, and it worked flawlessly. Remember that any changes you make in your fork remain there unless you submit a pull request and it is accepted. Just be prepared to type the repository name as a confirmation for deletion.
totally feel ya, i was in the same boat! just follow what swiftcoder15 said, super easy to delete. and yeah, original repo will be fine, no worries there. just make sure you’re ready to delete before you do it
yeah, happens to me all the time too lol. just make sure you dont have any uncommitted work before deleting - once its gone, you cant get it back. other than that, deleting forks is completely harmless.
Deleting your fork is straightforward and totally safe for the original repo. I’ve accidentally forked tons of projects while browsing around - removing them never caused problems. Your changes only affect the original if you submit a pull request that gets accepted. Deleting your fork does absolutely nothing to the source repo since it lives independently in your account. Just go to your fork’s settings, scroll to the danger zone, and click delete repository. GitHub makes you type the repo name to confirm. Takes 30 seconds and cleans up your repo list.
You can safely delete your accidental fork without worrying about the original repository. The fork operates independently, so removing it won’t impact the source project. I encountered a similar situation in the past and found that deleting unnecessary forks helped keep my account organized. As you mentioned, any changes you make will only affect your fork until a pull request is accepted. For future reference, consider bookmarking or starring repositories for learning instead of forking to avoid clutter.
