Reset a local branch to remote state in Git

David Y.

The Problem

How do I reset the state of a branch in a local Git repository to that of a remote branch?

The Solution

There are two commands you can use to achieve this. First, download all remote branches with git fetch:

git fetch origin # <-- name of remote, change if not origin
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Second, use git reset to sync the local branch with the remote branch:

git reset --hard origin/main
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This process will destroy any uncommitted work, as well as any unpushed commits, so caution is advised. Consider making a backup of the local state on a separate branch, before running git reset:

git commit -a -m "Backup of local work"
git branch local-work
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