How do I migrate a local git repository to github?

Question

I have a git repository (with a github remote).

Then, I deleted the repository in github.

I want to recreate the git repository in github with full history (i.e. branching, commit and merging history).

How do I achieve it?

I had tried creating a new repository via web UI, cloning it, copying files one by one but it is too timeconsuming.

Answer 1

(i'm going to use git.example.com here instead of GitLab, as there is nothing specific to GitLab, except probably the possibility to create a a git repository via the webinterface; but these days, there are plenty of different providers with the same functionality)

1. create a new git repository via the webinterface, e.g. https://git.example.com/bfg/frobnozzel.git

2. create a local bare clone of your (local) repository (in this example closing into /tmp/new-frobnozzel.git:

    git clone --bare /path/to/local/repository /tmp/new-frobnozzel.git
   

3. in the newly created bare-clone, change the remote to the new github repository:

    cd /tmp/new-frobnozzel.git
    git remote set-url origin [email protected]:bfg/frobnozzel.git
   

4. push your entire repository to the new remote:

    cd /tmp/new-frobnozzel.git
    git push --mirror origin
   

5. (optionally) switch your working repository to use the newly created remote repository as the main upstream, use:

    cd /path/to/local/repository
    git remote set-url origin [email protected]:bfg/frobnozzel.git
   

   you might want to do an initial synch just to be sure that everything is working (git pull)

Btw, there's also some Github documentation that covers this.