Migrating From BitBucket to Github

I was going to open with “Ready to kick the Bucket and join the Hub?” But something about it didn’t quite sound right. So instead I will just say, ready to ditch BitBucket and move your repository to GitHub? If so, this is the note for you!

Step 0: Create GitHub repository

Create a new empty repository on GitHub i.e. it should not contain a README.md, gitignore or LICENSE. It MUST be empty.

You can use the same name as your BitBucket repository’s name.

Step 1: Clone your BitBucket repository

git clone git@bitbucket.org:username/old-repo.git

Step 2: Change directory to the repository

cd old-repo

Step 3: Renaming remote

git remote rename origin bitbucket

Step 4: Link repository to GitHub repository

Using SSH:

git remote add origin git@github.com:username/new-repo.git

Using HTTPS:

git remote add origin https://github.com/username/new-repo.git

I found using the SSH approach ideal.

Step 5: Push to GitHub

git push origin master

If this step is successful you should now see your BitBucket repository contents on GitHub.

Step 6: Remove BitBucket link

git remote rm bitbucket

Done! Bye-bye BitBucket…