Importing a repository with Importer

If you have a project hosted on another Git-based hosting service, you can quickly import it to using the Importer tool.

In this article

About repository imports with Importer

Importer imports the source code and commit history of Git repositories hosted on external hosting services. For more information about the capabilities and limitations of Importer, see About Importer.

uses the email address in the commit header to link a commit to a user. To correctly attribute commits in an imported repository, users will need to add the email address associated with their commits to their account. For more information, see Adding an email address to your account.

Importing a repository with Importer

When you import a repository using the Importer, a new repository will be created. If you already have an existing repository you want to use, you can instead add your local repository to using Git. For more information, see Adding locally hosted code to .

  1. In the upper-right corner of any page on .com, click , and then click Import repository.

    Screenshot of the top-right corner of any page on GitHub. A plus icon is highlighted with an orange outline.

  2. On the "Import your project to " page, enter the URL for the remote repository hosted on another platform.

  3. If the source repository is private, enter credentials for authentication. Importer will use the credentials to perform a git clone operation on the source repository.

  4. Choose an owner and a name for the new repository on .

  5. Choose the visibility of the new repository. For more information, see About repositories.

  6. Click Begin import.

You'll be redirected to a "Preparing your new repository" page, where you can track the status of your import. You'll receive an email when the repository has been completely imported.