Renaming Local and Remote Git Branches

I recently ran into a situation where I created a new branch, pushed it, and then realized the name wasn’t quite right. Instead of starting from scratch, Git makes it pretty simple to rename both your local branch and the corresponding remote branch.

I’ve run into this issue before but had forgotten how to fix it, so this time I’m writing a quick blog post as a handy reference for myself (and maybe for you too).

Let’s say you created a branch called custom-loader:

git checkout -b custom-loader
git push origin custom-loader

You’ve pushed it to the remote and started working. But later you decide the name should be custom-load-test.

Local Repo                 Remote Repo
-----------                -----------
custom-loader   --->       origin/custom-loader

Renaming the Local Branch

You can rename your local branch with:

git branch -m custom-load-test

Now locally it’s renamed, but the remote still has the old branch.

Local Repo                 Remote Repo
-----------                -----------
custom-load-test --->      origin/custom-loader

Updating the Remote Branch

Next, push the new branch to the remote:

git push origin custom-load-test
git push --set-upstream origin custom-load-test

Now the remote also has the new branch:

Local Repo                 Remote Repo
-----------                -----------
custom-load-test --->      origin/custom-loader
                           origin/custom-load-test

Cleaning Up the Old Remote Branch

Finally, delete the old remote branch to avoid confusion:

git push origin --delete custom-loader

Local Repo                 Remote Repo
-----------                -----------
custom-load-test --->      origin/custom-load-test

One-Line Shortcut

If you prefer a single command to handle renaming and pushing:

git push origin :custom-loader custom-load-test
git push --set-upstream origin custom-load-test

The :custom-loader syntax deletes the old branch while simultaneously creating the new one.