git-repo-detection

created	"2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z"
modified	"2026-04-25T00:00:00.000Z"
reviewed	"2026-04-25T00:00:00.000Z"
name	git-repo-detection
description	Detect GitHub repo owner/name from git remotes. Use when needing the owner/repo identifier for GitHub CLI or API calls, especially across multiple repos.
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Grep

Git Repository Detection

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use the alternative when...
Extracting owner/repo from a git remote (HTTPS or SSH URL) for gh calls	Use gh-cli-agentic once you already have the owner/repo identifier
Handling GitHub Enterprise host URLs alongside github.com	Use git-fork-workflow when the question is fork vs upstream identification
Resolving the repo identifier to pass with gh -R to avoid remote-required errors	Use git-cli-agentic for raw git remote -v parsing if you need URL details
Detecting which repo a script is running inside before issuing API calls	Use git-coworker-check to detect concurrent agents in the same checkout

Expert knowledge for detecting and extracting GitHub repository information from git remotes, including repository name, owner, and full identifiers.

Core Expertise

Repository Identification

• Extract owner and repository name from git remotes
• Parse GitHub URLs (HTTPS and SSH)
• Handle GitHub Enterprise URLs
• Format as owner/repo for CLI/API usage

URL Parsing

• Parse HTTPS URLs: https://github.com/owner/repo.git
• Parse SSH URLs: [e-mail]:owner/repo.git
• Handle custom domains: https://github.enterprise.com/owner/repo.git
• Clean .git suffix and extra paths

Essential Commands

Get Remote URLs

# List all remotes
git remote -v

# Get origin URL
git remote get-url origin

# Get specific remote
git remote get-url upstream

# Show remote details
git remote show origin

Extract Repository Name

# From HTTPS URL
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*\/\([^/]*\)\.git/\1/'

# From SSH URL
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*:\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/' | cut -d'/' -f2

# From any URL (owner/repo format)
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/'

# Just repository name (no owner)
basename $(git remote get-url origin) .git

Extract Owner

# From any URL
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\)\/[^/]*\.git/\1/'

# Alternative with awk
git remote get-url origin | awk -F '[:/]' '{print $(NF-1)}'

Get Full Identifier (owner/repo)

# Standard format for GitHub CLI/API
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/'

# With validation
REPO=$(git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
echo "${REPO:-Unknown}"

# Store in variable
REPO_FULL=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
echo "Repository: $REPO_FULL"

URL Format Examples

HTTPS URLs

# Standard GitHub
https://github.com/owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

# Without .git suffix
https://github.com/owner/repo
# Extract: owner/repo

# GitHub Enterprise
https://github.company.com/owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

SSH URLs

# Standard SSH
[e-mail]:owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

# Custom SSH port
ssh://[e-mail]:443/owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

# Enterprise SSH
[e-mail]:owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

Parsing Patterns

Universal Parser (HTTPS or SSH)

# Works for both HTTPS and SSH
parse_repo() {
  local url="$1"
  # Remove .git suffix
  url="${url%.git}"
  # Extract owner/repo
  if [[ "$url" =~ github\.com[:/]([^/]+/[^/]+) ]]; then
    echo "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
  elif [[ "$url" =~ :([^/]+/[^/]+)$ ]]; then
    echo "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
  fi
}

REPO=$(parse_repo "$(git remote get-url origin)")
echo "$REPO"

Robust Extraction with sed

# Handle both HTTPS and SSH, with or without .git
git remote get-url origin \
  | sed -E 's#.*github\.com[:/]##; s#\.git$##'

Using awk

# Split by : or / and get last two components
git remote get-url origin \
  | awk -F'[/:]' '{print $(NF-1)"/"$NF}' \
  | sed 's/\.git$//'

Real-World Usage

With GitHub CLI

# Get repo identifier for gh commands
REPO=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')

# Use with gh
gh repo view "$REPO"
gh issue list --repo "$REPO"
gh pr list --repo "$REPO"

# Or use current directory (gh auto-detects)
gh repo view

For API usage, multiple remotes, scripts, aliases, and integration examples, see REFERENCE.md.

Edge Cases

Case	Check
No remote	git remote get-url origin &>/dev/null
Non-GitHub	git remote get-url origin | grep -q github.com
Multiple remotes	Use git remote get-url upstream for fork source
Submodule	git -C "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" remote get-url origin

Quick Reference

Purpose	Command
Full identifier (owner/repo)	git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/'
Owner only	git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\)\/[^/]*\.git/\1/'
Name only	basename $(git remote get-url origin) .git
Is GitHub?	git remote get-url origin | grep -q github.com
Validate in git repo	git rev-parse --git-dir &>/dev/null
List remotes	git remote -v
Set origin	git remote set-url origin [e-mail]:owner/repo.git

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Remote not found	git remote add origin [e-mail]:owner/repo.git
Wrong remote	git remote set-url origin <correct-url>
Parse failure	Check raw URL: git remote get-url origin

Related Skills

• github MCP - Use extracted repo name with GitHub API
• github-actions-inspection - Pass repo to gh CLI commands
• git-workflow - Identify repo for workflow operations