I want to change the name of one of my GitHub repos but I’m worried about the warning message that appears. It mentions that GitHub won’t create automatic redirects from the old name and that I need to update my local repository settings to match the new location.
Can someone explain what exactly I need to do on my local machine after renaming the repository? I’m not sure how to update the connection between my local files and the renamed remote repository. What commands do I need to run in my terminal to make everything work properly again?
don’t overthink it - it’s pretty straightforward once you’ve done it. just rename on github, cd into your local repo, and update the remote with the new url. took me about 30 seconds when i did mine last week.
The warning looks scary, but it’s actually pretty simple once you get what’s going on. When you rename a GitHub repo, the old URL stops working - that’s why you need to update your local git with the new location. I’ve done this tons of times without issues as long as you update the remote URL correctly. Quick tip: check if any local branches are still tracking the old URL by running git branch -vv. After I update with git remote set-url origin, I always run git remote -v to make sure it worked. Takes under a minute and your commit history stays untouched.
Everyone’s giving you the manual commands (they work fine), but you’ll hit this again with other repos. Been there way too many times.
The real headache isn’t updating one repo - it’s when you’ve got multiple repos, CI/CD pipelines, webhooks, and deployment scripts all pointing to old names. Manual updates suck.
I built an automation in Latenode that watches my GitHub repos and auto-updates all connected services when I rename stuff. Catches remote URLs, updates local clones, fixes webhook endpoints, and pings my team about changes.
Saved me hours last month renaming 8 repos for a client. The automation handled everything while I actually coded.
For now, use git remote set-url origin like others said. But automate this workflow going forward.
just run git remote set-url origin https://github.com/yourusername/newreponame.git and it’ll update your remote URL. that warning’s for integrations outside git, your local repo will be fine once you do that. super easy!
After you rename your repo on GitHub, you need to update the remote URL in your local repository. Navigate to your local repo in terminal and run git remote -v to see the current URL. Then update it with git remote set-url origin https://github.com/yourusername/newreponame.git. This fixes the connection between your local files and the renamed repo. Don’t worry about that warning you saw - it’s just about external tools. Your local setup will work fine once you make this change.