Git Pull

What

The git pull command is a convenient utility that downloads latest commits from a remote repository and immediately integrates them into your active local working directory.

How

Run git pull from your active branch to retrieve and merge modifications:

# Pull changes from the default tracked upstream branch
git pull

# Explicitly pull changes from origin's main branch
git pull origin main

Note: By default, git pull is a multi-step operation. Under the hood, it performs a git fetch to download remote database objects, followed immediately by a git merge to apply those changes to your active files.

You can configure your local environment to merge or rebase by default when running a pull operation:

# Force git to use standard merging on pull
git config set pull.rebase false

# Force git to use rebasing on pull (keeps local history linear)
git config set pull.rebase true

Why

When multiple developers modify the same codebase, remote repositories change constantly. If you attempt to push changes to a stale branch that is missing commits made on GitHub, Git will reject your push. Running git pull keeps your workspace in sync, pulling down coworker edits and resolving merges locally before you push your own commits.

Summary

git pull combines git fetch and git merge into a single command to instantly synchronize your active local branch files with remote repository updates.