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: git@github.com: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
git@github.com:owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

# Custom SSH port
ssh://git@github.com:443/owner/repo.git
# Extract: owner/repo

# Enterprise SSH
git@github.company.com: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 git@github.com:owner/repo.git

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Remote not found	git remote add origin git@github.com: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