A Git repository URL is the address Git uses to clone, fetch, and push code, and you get it with git remote get-url origin on the command line or from the green Code button on GitHub. Whether you need the repository URL to clone a project, wire up CI, or add a second remote, the mechanics are simple once you know where to look. But the choice between an HTTPS and an SSH URL carries real security implications, and pasting the wrong kind of URL into automation is a common way credentials leak. This guide covers how to get a Git repository URL from every angle and the details worth getting right.
What the repository URL actually is
Every Git repository you interact with remotely has a URL that tells Git where the code lives and which protocol to use to reach it. When you clone, that URL gets saved as a "remote," conventionally named origin, and every later git pull and git push uses it. The URL is not just a location; it also determines how you authenticate, because different URL schemes use different credential mechanisms.
There are two common forms. An HTTPS URL looks like https://github.com/org/repo.git. An SSH URL looks like git@github.com:org/repo.git. Both point at the same repository; they differ only in transport and authentication.
How to get a Git repository URL from the command line
If you already have a repository cloned, the fastest way to get its URL is to ask Git for the remote:
git remote get-url origin
That prints the URL Git uses for the origin remote. To see all remotes with both their fetch and push URLs at once, use:
git remote -v
That is the canonical way to do git get repo url when you are sitting inside a working copy. On older Git versions where get-url is unavailable, git config --get remote.origin.url returns the same value. If you need git get url for a remote other than origin, substitute its name, for example git remote get-url upstream.
How to get a GitHub repository URL
To get a GitHub repository URL from the web interface, open the repository page and click the green Code button. A dropdown shows tabs for HTTPS, SSH, and GitHub CLI, each with a copy-to-clipboard button. Pick the protocol you intend to use and copy the string.
You can also construct a GitHub repository URL by hand: it is https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>, and appending .git gives the clone URL, though modern Git accepts the URL with or without the suffix. For the SSH form, it is git@github.com:<owner>/<repo>.git. Knowing the pattern means you rarely need to visit the site at all.
HTTPS versus SSH, and why it matters for security
The repository URL you choose decides how you authenticate, and this is where security enters. With an HTTPS URL, you authenticate with a username and a personal access token (GitHub stopped accepting account passwords for Git operations in 2021). With an SSH URL, you authenticate with an SSH key pair whose public half you have registered with the host.
For automation and CI, the choice has consequences. HTTPS tokens are easy to leak because they are strings that end up in environment variables, log output, and sometimes committed files. If a token is scoped too broadly and leaks, an attacker gets whatever that token can do. SSH deploy keys can be scoped to a single repository and made read-only, which limits the blast radius if the key is compromised. As a rule, use narrowly scoped deploy keys or fine-grained tokens for machines, and never embed a long-lived broad-scope token in a repository URL that lands in a config file.
One more trap: never put credentials directly in the URL, as in https://user:token@github.com/org/repo.git. That form works, but the token gets written into .git/config in plaintext and often leaks into shell history and CI logs. Use a credential helper or SSH instead.
Changing or adding a repository URL
If you need to point an existing clone at a new location, for example after a repository is renamed or migrated to a new host, update the remote rather than re-cloning:
git remote set-url origin git@github.com:org/new-repo.git
To add a second remote, common when you fork a project and want to track the original, use git remote add:
git remote add upstream https://github.com/original-org/repo.git
After that, git fetch upstream pulls from the original while origin still points at your fork.
Where repository URLs intersect with supply chain security
The repository URL is also the identity your security tooling uses to track a project. When you connect a source control integration to a scanning platform, the repository URL (or the owner/repo pair derived from it) is how findings get attributed to the right codebase across scans. Getting the canonical URL right matters when you wire repositories into CI and security automation, so that a vulnerability found in a dependency maps back to the exact repository and branch that introduced it. Our DevSecOps academy material covers connecting repositories to scanning pipelines in more depth.
FAQ
How do I get my Git repository URL from the command line?
Run git remote get-url origin inside the repository to print the URL of the default remote, or git remote -v to list every remote with its fetch and push URLs. On older Git, git config --get remote.origin.url returns the same value.
How do I get a GitHub repository URL?
Open the repository on GitHub, click the green Code button, and copy the HTTPS or SSH URL from the dropdown. Alternatively, construct it directly: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo> for HTTPS or git@github.com:<owner>/<repo>.git for SSH.
What is the difference between an HTTPS and an SSH repository URL?
They point at the same repository but authenticate differently. HTTPS uses a username and a personal access token; SSH uses a registered key pair. For automation, SSH deploy keys can be scoped read-only to a single repository, which limits damage if the key leaks.
Should I put my access token in the repository URL?
No. Embedding a token as https://user:token@host/... writes it in plaintext into .git/config and it often leaks into logs and shell history. Use a Git credential helper or an SSH key instead.