Git master branch has no upstream branch

Question

I'm trying to push one of my projects to github, and I keep getting this error:

fatal: The current branch master has no upstream branch.

I've never seen this before. I re-initialized my git, re-added my origin, deleted and re-made the repo, and recreated my SSH key.

score 92 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 07 '20 at 12:13

92

Instead of creating a new repository on Github, cloning that, or reinitializing your local repository, the following command would have been sufficient:

git push -u origin master

origin stands for the remote name (default is origin),
master is the branch you want to push, in your case it's master, otherwise you would have to change that in the command.
-u means, that your local branch will be setup to track the new created master branch on the origin repository (the master on the origin will be the upstream branch of your local branch). If the branch master doesn't exist on the remote repository, it will be created, otherwise it will be updated (the -u works no matter if it exists or not).

edited Sep 07 '20 at 12:13

Kromster

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answered May 11 '13 at 09:18

dunni

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Thanks! I didn't know about -u – Matt Dotson Jul 24 '13 at 22:46
If this didn't work, did you have a branch starting with a capital letter? Github seems to use lowercase letters for starting branch names. – Jason Harrison Oct 15 '14 at 22:58
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Worked perfectly. In Tortoise Git, select Push and then tick Set upstream/track remote branch. – Jeff Dunlop Apr 25 '15 at 01:05
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This is my 5th coming here for this line. It's needed in VS when you branch off a local branch rather than a remote one. Team Explorer in VS seemingly has no feature to push a local branch upstream if it's not already in the remote. – Philip Rego Dec 16 '16 at 15:26

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 15 '14 at 16:57

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The following command worked for me:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/master master

answered Jul 15 '14 at 16:57

Manoj Shrestha

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this. i needed the equals sign too. – Tim Aug 29 '14 at 01:40
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More recent version of git should be `git branch --set-upstream origin master` – Zombies Oct 07 '16 at 12:50

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 04 '15 at 21:46

7

i faced the same problem just tell github to use the current head branch of your local repository:

git push --set-upstream origin master

wish it help you and others

edited Dec 04 '15 at 21:46

Kashyap

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answered Mar 11 '14 at 13:43

Manee.O.H

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try this out: `git push --set-upstream origin master` – Sachin Singh Apr 30 '14 at 15:51

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 01 '14 at 20:13

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I had this problem today on my own remote repository, not Github and realized I had not made any commits to my local repository before trying to push to the remote repository.

git add -A
git commit
git push origin master

answered Jul 01 '14 at 20:13

haydeniv

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Cool Blue · Answer 5 · 2015-08-24T10:19:50.497

Some people coming to this page may simply have this error because they did git push origin and simply didn't realise that you need to specify the remote branch name as well, as in git push origin master.

If you do git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/master master a reference is added to .git\config to link the local and remote branches. I presume that then you no longer need to specify the branch name when pushing to the remote.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 11 '13 at 03:20

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Create the repo on github; add a README file on github and then clone the github repository. Creating the README file (or any file actually) is needed in order to get a master branch.

Notice how github prompts for creating a README when creating a repository: enter image description here

answered May 11 '13 at 03:20

GoZoner

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Downvoted. This answer just assumes that the repo doesn't exist yet. Which, judging by this answer having been accepted by JShoe, happened to be the case for them. In case it's not obvious: don't do this if you already have one set up, instead see the other popular answers all of which give some variation of `git push --set-upstream origin master`. – Leif Willerts Mar 09 '21 at 15:08

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 28 '16 at 00:42

Cool Blue's answer ALMOST worked for me.

First I did: "git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/master master", as recommended by Cool Blue.

But still received error message:
"failed to push some refs to '' hint: Updates were rejected because the tip of your current branch is behind its remote counterpart. Integrate the remote changes (e.g. 'git pull ...') before pushing again."

So I... did a "git push -f" command after the git branch, which worked finally worked for me.

After the forced push, subsequent "git push" commands worked without issue.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 31 '20 at 21:16

1

In case someone is still running into this issue, this command solved it for me

git push --set-upstream origin master

answered May 31 '20 at 21:16

V P

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kgui · Answer 9 · 2016-10-25T23:14:18.693

Try both the HTTP and SSH urls? I had a problem when I was using the SSH url but, when I switched to the HTTP one, it worked like a charm.

Here is what I changed:

First, view the remote URL

git remote -v

and you get destinations back.

git remote rm destination

Follow this link if you need help: https://help.github.com/articles/removing-a-remote/

Then,

git remote add origin url 
git push -u origin master

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Apr 05 '22 at 01:57

0

git push -u origin master has been deprecated.

Use git config --global push.default current instead

answered Apr 05 '22 at 01:57

Saul Feliz

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score -1 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 30 '17 at 07:53

-1

You need to configure the remote first, then push.

git remote add origin url-to-your-repo

instructions

answered Mar 30 '17 at 07:53

Santosh Pillai

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Git master branch has no upstream branch

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