git-repository-detection

created	"2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z"
modified	"2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z"
reviewed	"2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z"
name	Git Repository Detection
description	Detect GitHub repository name and owner from git remotes. Use when needing repo identifier for GitHub CLI, API calls, or when working with multiple repositories. Automatically extracts owner/repo format.
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Grep

Git Repository Detection

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

With GitHub API

# Extract for API calls
REPO=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
OWNER=$(echo "$REPO" | cut -d'/' -f1)
REPO_NAME=$(echo "$REPO" | cut -d'/' -f2)

# API request
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$OWNER/$REPO_NAME"

# Or use full identifier
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO"

Check Multiple Remotes

# List all remotes with parsed names
git remote | while read remote; do
  url=$(git remote get-url "$remote")
  repo=$(echo "$url" | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
  echo "$remote: $repo"
done

# Output:
# origin: owner/repo
# upstream: original-owner/repo

Validate Repository Exists

# Extract and validate
REPO=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')

# Check if repo exists on GitHub
if gh repo view "$REPO" &>/dev/null; then
  echo "Repository exists: $REPO"
else
  echo "Repository not found or not accessible: $REPO"
fi

Clone URL from Identifier

# Given owner/repo, construct URLs
REPO="owner/repo"

# HTTPS
echo "https://github.com/${REPO}.git"

# SSH
echo "[e-mail]:${REPO}.git"

Common Patterns

Script Integration

#!/bin/bash
# Get repository info for current directory

get_repo_info() {
  local origin_url=$(git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null)

  if [[ -z "$origin_url" ]]; then
    echo "Error: Not a git repository or no origin remote" >&2
    return 1
  fi

  # Extract owner/repo
  local repo=$(echo "$origin_url" | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')

  # Split into owner and name
  local owner=$(echo "$repo" | cut -d'/' -f1)
  local name=$(echo "$repo" | cut -d'/' -f2)

  echo "Full: $repo"
  echo "Owner: $owner"
  echo "Name: $name"
}

get_repo_info

Environment Variables

# Set repo variables for scripts
export REPO_FULL=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
export REPO_OWNER=$(echo "$REPO_FULL" | cut -d'/' -f1)
export REPO_NAME=$(echo "$REPO_FULL" | cut -d'/' -f2)

# Use in scripts
gh issue create --repo "$REPO_FULL" --title "Bug Report"

Aliases

# Add to ~/.gitconfig or ~/.bashrc

# Git alias
git config --global alias.repo-name "!git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[\\/:]\\([^\\/]*\\/[^\\/]*\\)\\.git/\\1/'"

# Usage
git repo-name

# Shell alias
alias repo='git remote get-url origin | sed "s/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/"'

# Usage
repo

Edge Cases and Error Handling

No Remote

# Check if remote exists
if git remote get-url origin &>/dev/null; then
  REPO=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
  echo "Repository: $REPO"
else
  echo "Error: No origin remote configured"
fi

Multiple Remotes

# Use specific remote (origin, upstream, etc.)
REMOTE="${1:-origin}"

if git remote get-url "$REMOTE" &>/dev/null; then
  REPO=$(git remote get-url "$REMOTE" | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
  echo "Repository ($REMOTE): $REPO"
else
  echo "Error: Remote '$REMOTE' not found"
fi

Non-GitHub Remotes

# Check if it's a GitHub URL
URL=$(git remote get-url origin)

if [[ "$URL" =~ github\.com ]]; then
  REPO=$(echo "$URL" | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')
  echo "GitHub Repository: $REPO"
else
  echo "Not a GitHub repository: $URL"
fi

Submodules

# Get parent repo
PARENT_REPO=$(git -C "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" remote get-url origin \
  | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')

# Get submodule repo
SUBMODULE_REPO=$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')

Integration Examples

With Makefile

# Makefile
REPO := $(shell git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^\/]*\/[^\/]*\)\.git/\1/')
OWNER := $(shell echo $(REPO) | cut -d'/' -f1)
NAME := $(shell echo $(REPO) | cut -d'/' -f2)

.PHONY: info
info:
	@echo "Repository: $(REPO)"
	@echo "Owner: $(OWNER)"
	@echo "Name: $(NAME)"

.PHONY: open
open:
	@open "https://github.com/$(REPO)"

With Shell Scripts

#!/bin/bash
# deploy.sh

set -e

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

if [[ -z "$REPO" ]]; then
  echo "Error: Could not determine repository" >&2
  exit 1
fi

echo "Deploying $REPO..."

# Use repo identifier
gh workflow run deploy.yml --repo "$REPO"

With Python Scripts

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import re

def get_repo_name():
    """Extract GitHub repository owner/name from git remote."""
    try:
        result = subprocess.run(
            ['git', 'remote', 'get-url', 'origin'],
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
            check=True
        )
        url = result.stdout.strip()

        # Parse owner/repo from URL
        match = re.search(r'github\.com[:/](.+/.+?)(?:\.git)?$', url)
        if match:
            return match.group(1)
        return None
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
        return None

if __name__ == '__main__':
    repo = get_repo_name()
    if repo:
        print(f"Repository: {repo}")
    else:
        print("Error: Could not determine repository")

Quick Reference

One-Liners

# 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

# Check if GitHub repo
git remote get-url origin | grep -q github.com && echo "GitHub" || echo "Not GitHub"

Common Commands

# View on GitHub (macOS)
open "https://github.com/$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')"

# View on GitHub (Linux)
xdg-open "https://github.com/$(git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/')"

# Copy to clipboard (macOS)
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/' | pbcopy

# Copy to clipboard (Linux)
git remote get-url origin | sed 's/.*[:/]\([^/]*\/[^/]*\)\.git/\1/' | xclip -selection clipboard

Validation

# Ensure in git repo
git rev-parse --git-dir &>/dev/null || { echo "Not a git repository"; exit 1; }

# Ensure origin exists
git remote get-url origin &>/dev/null || { echo "No origin remote"; exit 1; }

# Ensure it's GitHub
git remote get-url origin | grep -q github.com || { echo "Not a GitHub repo"; exit 1; }

Troubleshooting

Remote Not Found

# Check configured remotes
git remote -v

# Add origin if missing
git remote add origin [e-mail]:owner/repo.git

Wrong Remote

# Use different remote
git remote get-url upstream

# Set correct origin
git remote set-url origin [e-mail]:owner/repo.git

Parse Failure

# Debug: Show raw URL
git remote get-url origin

# Check format matches expected pattern
# HTTPS: https://github.com/owner/repo.git
# SSH:   [e-mail]:owner/repo.git

Best Practices

Caching

• Cache repository identifier in scripts
• Don't repeatedly call git commands
• Store in environment variables

Error Handling

• Always check if remote exists
• Validate URL format before parsing
• Provide fallback values

Portability

• Use portable sed/awk syntax
• Test on different shells (bash, zsh, etc.)
• Handle both HTTPS and SSH URLs

Security

• Don't expose tokens in URLs
• Use SSH for private repositories
• Validate repository access

Integration with Other Skills

Combine with:

• 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

Workflow:

1. Detect repository (this skill)
2. Use identifier with GitHub CLI/API
3. Perform operations on correct repository

Resources

• git remote documentation: man git-remote
• GitHub CLI: Uses repository detection automatically
• GitHub API: Requires owner/repo format