How Git workflows work in Replit

Open the Git pane by clicking Tools in the left sidebar and selecting Git. If your project does not have Git initialized, Replit will prompt you to set it up. Click 'Initialize Git repository' to create a local repo. To sync with GitHub, click 'Connect to GitHub,' authorize Replit if prompted, and either create a new repository or link an existing one. Once connected, your Repl syncs bidirectionally with the GitHub repository on the main branch.

The Git pane shows all modified, added, and deleted files. Click the checkbox next to each file you want to include in your commit, or click the top-level checkbox to stage all changes. Enter a commit message in the text field at the top of the pane. Replit Agent can auto-generate a commit message by clicking the AI icon next to the message field. Click 'Commit' to create the commit. Your changes are now saved locally in Git but not yet pushed to GitHub.

After committing, click the 'Push' button in the Git pane to send your commits to GitHub. If this is the first push, Replit creates the remote branch on GitHub. Subsequent pushes add your new commits to the existing branch. If someone else has pushed changes to the same branch since your last pull, Replit will prompt you to pull first. Always pull before pushing to avoid rejected pushes.

While the Git pane handles basic commit and push operations, branch management is best done through Shell. Open Shell (Tools > Shell) and use standard Git commands to create and switch branches. Creating a branch lets you develop features in isolation without affecting the main codebase. When the feature is ready, you merge it back into main. This is the standard Git workflow used in professional software development.

1# Create a new branch and switch to it
2git checkout -b feature/user-auth
3
4# List all branches (local and remote)
5git branch -a
6
7# Switch to an existing branch
8git checkout main
9
10# Switch back to your feature branch
11git checkout feature/user-auth
12
13# Push a new branch to GitHub
14git push -u origin feature/user-auth

When collaborators push changes to the same branch, you need to pull their changes before pushing yours. Click 'Pull' in the Git pane or run 'git pull origin main' in Shell. If there are merge conflicts (two people edited the same lines), Replit highlights the conflicting sections with Git's standard conflict markers (<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>). Open each conflicted file, decide which version to keep (or combine both), remove the conflict markers, save the file, and commit the resolution.

1# Pull latest changes from GitHub
2git pull origin main
3
4# If conflicts occur, open the conflicted files.
5# You will see markers like:
6# <<<<<<< HEAD
7# your changes here
8# =======
9# their changes here
10# >>>>>>> origin/main
11
12# After resolving conflicts in the editor:
13git add .
14git commit -m "Resolve merge conflicts in auth module"

When your feature is complete and tested, merge it back into the main branch. Switch to main, pull the latest changes, then merge your feature branch. If there are no conflicts, Git performs a fast-forward or automatic merge. Push the updated main branch to GitHub. For team projects, consider using GitHub Pull Requests instead of direct merges, which allow code review before merging. The RapidDev team recommends using Pull Requests for any project with more than one contributor.

1# Switch to main branch
2git checkout main
3
4# Pull latest changes
5git pull origin main
6
7# Merge your feature branch
8git merge feature/user-auth
9
10# Push the merged main branch
11git push origin main
12
13# Optionally delete the feature branch
14git branch -d feature/user-auth
15git push origin --delete feature/user-auth