How to Checkout a Remote Branch in Git

During the process of working on a shared git repository, coworkers might need access to one another’s branches. This can be done using the git checkout command. Usually, there exists a single remote. However, there can be cases when a developer has to work with branches in multiple remotes.

Here, we will discuss both of the scenarios: checking out a single remote and checking out multiple remote branches.

How to Checkout to a Branch in a Single Remote

Here are the steps you should take to checkout a single remote branch:

Fetching a Remote

The first step is fetching a remote branch by using the git fetch command, like this:

Fetch remote branches

git fetch

Displaying Branches

The second step is displaying the branches to choose, which one you want to checkout by acting as follows:

List all branches

git branch -v -a

Checking out a Remote Branch

The final step is using the git checkout command in the following way:

Checkout a remote branch

git checkout -b test origin/test

Note: Starting with Git 2.23, git switch is recommended for branch navigation. The equivalent command is git switch -c test origin/test.

How to Checkout to a Branch in Multiple Remotes

Now, let’s figure out how to switch to multiple remote branches accurately. You can easily do that by following the steps below.

Fetching Remote Branches

In this case, your first step should be using the git fetch command with the --all option to fetch all the remotes, like this:

Fetch all remotes

git fetch --all

Displaying Branches

You can see the branches that are available for checkout by calling the git branch command:

List available branches

git branch -v -a

Checking out Branches

And, finally, to checkout a branch in multiple remotes, you should use the following command:

Create and checkout a new branch

git checkout -b test <name of remote>/test

Or the shorthand version:

Checkout with tracking shorthand

git checkout -t <name of remote>/test

The git branch Command

The git branch command is targeted at creating, listing and deleting branches. It doesn’t give you an option to switch between branches and put a forked history back together. Most version control systems allow branching. It is aimed at pointing to a snapshot of your changes. For summarizing the changes whenever you intend to fix the bugs or add new properties is created a new branch.

The git fetch Command

The git fetch command is applied for downloading commits, references, and files from the remote repository into a local one. With it, you can see what other members of the group have been working on. The content that has been fetched, should be accurately checked out using the git checkout command.

The git checkout Command

Switching branches and restoring working tree files is what the git checkout command is used for. You can run it on commits, branches, as well as, files. It is especially useful for switching between several features in a single repository.