Fork and pull request workflow in Git - Commands & Configuration

Introduction

When you want to contribute to a project you don't own, you use a fork and pull request workflow. This lets you make changes safely and ask the original project to include your work.

When you want to fix a bug in someone else's project without direct write access.

When you want to add a new feature to an open source project.

When you want to experiment with changes without affecting the original code.

When you want to collaborate on a project but keep your changes separate until reviewed.

When you want to submit your improvements for review before they become part of the main project.

Commands

Clone the original project repository to your local machine to start working on it.

Terminal

git clone https://github.com/example-user/example-project.git

Expected Output

Cloning into 'example-project'...

remote: Enumerating objects: 10, done.

remote: Counting objects: 100% (10/10), done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (8/8), done.

remote: Total 100 (delta 2), reused 7 (delta 1), pack-reused 90

Receiving objects: 100% (100/100), 12.34 MiB | 2.00 MiB/s, done.

Resolving deltas: 100% (30/30), done.

Add your forked repository as a new remote named 'fork' to push your changes later.

Terminal

git remote add fork https://github.com/your-username/example-project.git

Expected Output

No output (command runs silently)

Create and switch to a new branch named 'fix-typo' to isolate your changes.

Terminal

git checkout -b fix-typo

Expected Output

Switched to a new branch 'fix-typo'

Stage the file you changed to prepare it for committing.

Terminal

git add README.md

Expected Output

No output (command runs silently)

Commit your staged changes with a clear message describing what you fixed.

Terminal

git commit -m "Fix typo in README"

Expected Output

[fix-typo abc1234] Fix typo in README

 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Push your branch with changes to your fork on GitHub so you can create a pull request.

Terminal

git push fork fix-typo

Expected Output

Enumerating objects: 5, done.

Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.

Delta compression using up to 4 threads

Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.

Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 350 bytes | 350.00 KiB/s, done.

Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)

remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (1/1), done.

To https://github.com/your-username/example-project.git

 * [new branch]      fix-typo -> fix-typo

Fetch the latest changes from the original repository to keep your local copy up to date.

Terminal

git fetch origin

Expected Output

remote: Enumerating objects: 3, done.

remote: Counting objects: 100% (3/3), done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.

remote: Total 3 (delta 1), reused 1 (delta 0), pack-reused 0

Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), 1.23 KiB | 1.23 MiB/s, done.

Merge the latest changes from the original main branch into your current branch to avoid conflicts.

Terminal

git merge origin/main

Expected Output

Updating abc1234..def5678

Fast-forward

 README.md | 2 +-

 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: fork the project, make changes in a new branch, push to your fork, then create a pull request.

Common Mistakes

Committing changes directly to the main branch

This can cause conflicts and makes it harder to manage multiple changes separately.

Always create a new branch for your changes before committing.

Pushing changes to the original repository instead of your fork

You usually don't have permission to push to the original repository, so the push will fail.

Add your fork as a remote and push your changes there.

Not updating your branch with the latest changes from the original repository

Your pull request might have conflicts or be outdated, making it harder to merge.

Regularly fetch and merge changes from the original repository's main branch.

Summary

Clone the original project to your local machine to start working.

Create a new branch for your changes to keep work organized.

Push your branch to your forked repository to prepare for a pull request.

Keep your branch updated with the original repository to avoid conflicts.