Repos must be enabled in your Azure DevOps project settings. If the Repos hub and associated pages don't display, see Turn an Azure DevOps service on or off to reenable Repos .

To view code in private projects, you must be a member of an Azure DevOps project with Basic access level or higher. For public projects, everyone can view the code.

If you don't have a project, create one or sign up for free .

If you aren't a project member, get added .

To clone or contribute to code for a private project, you must be a member of the Contributors security group or have the corresponding permissions set. For public projects, anyone can clone and contribute code. For more information, see What is a public project?

For public projects, users granted Stakeholder access have full access to Azure Repos .

Repos must be enabled in your Azure DevOps project settings. If the Repos hub and associated pages don't display, see Turn an Azure DevOps service on or off to reenable Repos .

To view code, you must be a member of the Azure DevOps project with Basic access or higher. If you aren't a project member, get added .

To clone or contribute to code, you must be a member of the Contributors security group, or have the corresponding permissions, in the project you want to change.

Get the clone URL of an Azure Repos Git repo

Typically, you need to know the clone URL of the remote repo that you want to clone. The clone URL uniquely identifies the remote repo.

When you're signed into an Azure DevOps project, Visual Studio supports searching for and cloning project repos without needing to know the clone URL.

From your web browser, open the team project for your Azure DevOps organization, and then choose Repos > Files to open the Files view.

With Azure DevOps Services, the format for the project URL is dev.azure.com/{your organization}/{your project} . However, the previous format that references the visualstudio.com format is still supported. For more information, see Introducing Azure DevOps, Switch existing organizations to use the new domain name URL .

Get the clone URL of a GitHub repo

Typically, you need to know the clone URL of the remote repo that you want to clone. The clone URL uniquely identifies the remote repo.

When you're signed into GitHub , Visual Studio supports searching for and cloning GitHub repos without needing to know the clone URL.

Open a browser and navigate to your GitHub account, select the Repositories tab, and choose the repository to clone.

Clone an Azure Repos Git repo

By signing in as a member of an Azure DevOps project, you can clone private repos that are accessible to you, and public repos. Visual Studio supports search, clone, and sync operations on repos that are accessible through authentication.

You can clone a public Azure Repos Git repo without signing in as a member of its parent Azure DevOps project. To clone a public Git repo without signing in, see Clone any Git repo and then connect to a project in Azure DevOps.

Visual Studio 2022 provides a Git version control experience by using the Git menu, Git Changes , and through context menus in Solution Explorer . Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 also offers the Team Explorer Git user interface. For more information, see the Visual Studio 2019 - Team Explorer tab.

From the Git menu on the menu bar, choose Clone Repository to open the Clone a repository window.

In the Connect to a Project window, sign in to Azure DevOps and choose the remote repo you want to clone. You can use the search box to filter the list of remote repos. If you don't see the remote repo, select Add Azure DevOps Server to add the server that hosts the repo. Verify the local folder path where you want the local clone to be created, and then select Clone .

Visual Studio 2019 provides a Git version control experience by using the Git menu, Git Changes , and through context menus in Solution Explorer .

From the Git menu on the menu bar, choose Clone Repository to open the Clone a repository window.

In the Connect to a Project window, sign in to Azure DevOps and choose the remote repo you want to clone. You can use the search box to filter the list of remote repos. If you don't see the remote repo, select Add Azure DevOps Server to add the server that hosts the repo. Verify the local folder path where you want the local clone to be created, and then select Clone .

Visual Studio 2019 version 16.8 and later versions provides a Git version control experience while maintaining the Team Explorer Git user interface. To use Team Explorer , uncheck Tools > Options > Preview Features > New Git user experience from the menu bar. You can use Git features from either interface interchangeably.

In Team Explorer , select Connect to open the Connect page, and then choose Manage Connections > Connect to Project .

In the Connect to a Project window, sign in to Azure DevOps and choose the remote repo you want to clone. You can use the search box to filter the list of remote repos. If you don't see the remote repo, select Add Azure DevOps Server to add the server that hosts the repo. Verify the local folder path where you want the local clone to be created, and then select Clone .

Clone a GitHub repo

By signing into GitHub or using SSH authentication, you can clone private repos that are accessible to you, and public repos. Visual Studio supports search, clone, and sync operations on repos that are accessible through authentication.

You can clone a public GitHub repo without signing in to GitHub or otherwise authenticating. To clone a public Git repo without signing in, see Clone any Git repo .

If you haven't already, download and install Git . Enable Git Credential Manager when prompted during the install, or configure SSH authentication .

At the command prompt, run the Git clone command with the clone URL of the remote repo. This command will create a local clone repo under the current folder.

git clone <clone URL>
The Git clone command also let's you specify a folder path after the clone URL to create the repo in a specific location. For example:
git clone https://fiber-teams@dev.azure.com/fiber-teams/FiberTests/_git/FiberTests C:\Repos\FiberTests
The Git clone command also let's you clone just a single branch. This option is useful when only one branch of a large repo is of interest to you.
git clone <clone URL> --branch <branch name> --single-branch
When you clone a remote repository, Git assigns the alias origin as shorthand for the URL of the remote repo you cloned. Git commands often use that alias.
Open a Visual Studio solution from a cloned repo
Visual Studio 2022
Visual Studio 2019 - Git menu
Visual Studio 2019 - Team Explorer
Git Command Line
At the command prompt, run the following command to open a Visual Studio solution from a cloned repo. This command isn't a Git command.
start <solution filepath>
For example:
start C:\Repos\FiberTests\FiberTests.sln
Next steps
Save work with commits
Related articles
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