Skip to content

Open, clone and create repositories

When no repository is open, Browsitory shows the repository picker. Open folder opens a repository from your disk, and the list below it reopens one you used recently. The picker also has Clone…, New repository… and your workspaces.

Browsitory reopens the tabs you had open last time. To open another repository next to them, click + at the end of the tab bar.

Cloning and creating repositories

Desktop app only — in VSCode, use VSCode's own Git: Clone and Git: Initialize Repository.

Clone… (repository picker, or the palette's "Clone repository…"):

  • URL — https://…, ssh://…, git@host:org/repo.git, or a local path / file:// URL.
  • Parent folder and Folder name — the clone goes into parent/name. The name follows the URL until you edit it. The parent must be an absolute path (use Browse… if unsure). The folder must not exist yet, or be empty.
  • Branch — optional; defaults to the remote's default branch.
  • Include submodules — on by default. A submodule that can't be fetched doesn't stop the clone; the toast says how many failed and the Submodules panel shows them.
  • HTTPS credentials — for private repositories with an HTTPS (https://) URL, enter a username and access token. The token is saved to your system keychain, and the remote set to use it, only after the clone succeeds. SSH URLs use your SSH agent. Don't put the token in the URL — Browsitory refuses URLs that contain a password. If the keychain write fails, the clone still succeeds and a toast says "Cloned name, but the token couldn't be saved." — enter the token again later from the remote's Manage credentials action (right-click the remote in the Branches sidebar).

Progress shows while cloning; Cancel clone stops it and removes what was downloaded.

New repository… — pick (or create) a folder; Browsitory runs the equivalent of git init there, on your init.defaultBranch (or main), and opens it. Picking a folder that already is a repository offers to open it instead.