GitHub Clone Skill

Clone repositories and establish a clean local workspace.

See also: Shared Conventions | Safety Guidelines

Purpose

Set up a local copy of a repository ready for work.

Commands

gh auth status
gh repo clone <owner>/<repo>
gh repo clone <owner>/<repo> -- --depth 1  # shallow clone
git clone <url>

Workflow

1. Verify authentication

   gh auth status
   

2. Clone to workspace

   cd ~/workspace
   gh repo clone owner/repo
   

3. Verify clone

   cd repo
   git status
   git remote -v
   

Policies

• Clone into ~/workspace/ directory
• Verify auth status before cloning private repos
• Use shallow clone (--depth 1) for large repos when full history isn't needed
• After clone, verify remote is correctly configured