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Git fatal: not a git repository
===============================

### [\#Git](https://rocketeersapp.com/knowledge/git)

This error means you ran a git command somewhere git does not recognise as a repository. Usually you are in the wrong directory, or the repo was never initialised.

 Published by [Mark van Eijk](https://rocketeersapp.com/author/mark-van-eijk) on June 23, 2026 · 1 minute read

1. [About the error](#content-about-the-error)
2. [Why do I see this error](#content-why-do-i-see-this-error)
3. [Solution](#content-solution)
4. [Check where you are](#content-check-where-you-are)
5. [Initialise a new repository](#content-initialise-a-new-repository)
6. [Clone instead, if the project lives on a remote](#content-clone-instead-if-the-project-lives-on-a-remote)
7. [Find the repository root from a subdirectory](#content-find-the-repository-root-from-a-subdirectory)

[\#](#content-about-the-error "Permalink")About the error
---------------------------------------------------------

 ```
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

```

Git commands operate on a repository, identified by a `.git` directory. When you run a git command, git looks in the current directory and walks up through the parents searching for `.git`. If it never finds one, you get this error.

[\#](#content-why-do-i-see-this-error "Permalink")Why do I see this error
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

- You're in the **wrong directory**, outside the project, or one level above it.
- The directory was never initialised as a git repository.
- The `.git` directory was deleted (sometimes accidentally, sometimes by an over-broad clean).
- You cloned into a subdirectory and are running git from the parent.

[\#](#content-solution "Permalink")Solution
-------------------------------------------

### [\#](#content-check-where-you-are "Permalink")Check where you are

First confirm your location and whether a `.git` directory exists here:

 ```
pwd
ls -la       # look for a .git entry

```

If you don't see `.git`, you're either in the wrong place or this isn't a repo. `cd` into the actual project directory:

 ```
cd ~/Sites/my-project
git status

```

### [\#](#content-initialise-a-new-repository "Permalink")Initialise a new repository

If this directory *should* be a repository but never was, create one:

 ```
git init

```

### [\#](#content-clone-instead-if-the-project-lives-on-a-remote "Permalink")Clone instead, if the project lives on a remote

If the code already exists on GitHub and you just don't have it locally, clone it rather than init:

 ```
git clone git@github.com:you/my-project.git
cd my-project

```

### [\#](#content-find-the-repository-root-from-a-subdirectory "Permalink")Find the repository root from a subdirectory

If you're somewhere inside a repo but a parent got confused, this prints the top level (or errors if you're truly outside one):

 ```
git rev-parse --show-toplevel

```

If you recently saw [refusing to merge unrelated histories](/git-refusing-to-merge-unrelated-histories) and then this, a deleted or recreated `.git` directory is a likely common cause.

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