title: " Cloning a Gerrit Repository" sidebar: userguide_sidebar permalink: cloning-a-gerrit-repository.html
{% include important.html content=“This content is currently in alpha. It is still under review.” %}
As you start contributing to a Gerrit repository, your first step is to clone the project to a local repository. To clone a Gerrit repository, you use the same git clone command used for standard Git repositories. However, it is recommended to clone the repository with a commit-msg hook. This hook automatically adds the Change-Id that Gerrit uses to track iterations of a commit as it goes through review.
Before you begin
- Verify that you are authorized to contribute changes to the repositories that want to clone.
Cloning a repository with the commit-msg hook
- Navigate to the Gerrit site for your project. For example, the URL for the Gerrit project is
gerrit-review.googlesource.com. - If you have not already done so, sign in using the icon in the upper right corner.
- From the main menu bar, click Browse. A list of available repositories opens.
- Click the name of the repository you want to clone. A Downloads screen opens. This screen includes several commands that you can copy and use on your local machine.
- Copy the contents of the Clone with commit-msg hook text box. By default, this command uses the HTTP protocol. Gerrit also supports SSO and RPC. To use one of these options, click either the SSO or RPC link.
- From a terminal window on your local machine, paste the command and run it.
You now have a clone of the repository on your local machine. In addition, any commits you push to the remote repository automatically include a Change-Id.
Cloning directly
If you want to clone a repository directly, you can do so by following the same steps in the previous section. However, instead of using the command from the Clone with commit-msg hook text box, copy the command from the Clone text box.
{% include warning.html content=“Cloning this command means that your commits do not automatically include a Change-Id.” %}
What's Next
- Understand how to push a change to a repository
- Read the overview of how to contribute changes to Gerrit
- Learn more aobu tthe commit-msg hook
- Learn more about Change-Ids
