Detach (Move) Subdirectory into Separate Git Repository

Better Stack Team
Updated on July 25, 2024

To detach (move) a subdirectory into a separate Git repository, you can use the git subtree command. This approach allows you to preserve the history of the subdirectory. Here are the steps to achieve this:

  1. Navigate to your repository:

     
    cd path/to/your/repository

  2. Split the subdirectory into a separate branch:

    Use the git subtree split command to create a new branch that contains the history of the subdirectory. Replace subdir with the path to your subdirectory.

     
    git subtree split --prefix=subdir -b subdir-branch

  3. Create a new repository:

    Initialize a new Git repository for the subdirectory.

     
    mkdir path/to/new/repository
cd path/to/new/repository
git init

  4. Pull the subdirectory branch into the new repository:

    Use the git pull command to pull the newly created branch from the old repository into the new repository. Adjust the path to your old repository accordingly.

     
    git pull path/to/your/old/repository subdir-branch

  5. Optional: Remove the subdirectory from the original repository:

    If you want to remove the subdirectory from the original repository, you can do so and commit the changes.

     
    cd path/to/your/repository
git rm -r subdir
git commit -m "Remove subdir after extracting it to a new repository"

Example

Assuming you have a repository with the following structure:

 
/your-repository
    /subdir
    /otherdir

And you want to move /subdir to a new repository:

  1. Navigate to your original repository:

     
    cd path/to/your-repository

  2. Split the subdirectory into a separate branch:

     
    git subtree split --prefix=subdir -b subdir-branch

  3. Create a new repository for the subdirectory:

     
    mkdir ../new-subdir-repo
cd ../new-subdir-repo
git init

  4. Pull the subdirectory branch into the new repository:

     
    git pull ../your-repository subdir-branch

  5. Remove the subdirectory from the original repository (optional):

     
    cd ../your-repository
git rm -r subdir
git commit -m "Remove subdir after extracting it to a new repository"

Notes

  • The git subtree method preserves the commit history of the subdirectory.
  • Ensure you have the correct paths and branch names when running the commands.
  • If you need to push the new repository to a remote server, you can follow up with git remote add origin <url> and git push -u origin master.

By following these steps, you will have successfully moved a subdirectory into a separate Git repository while retaining its history.

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