How to Check Upstream Tracking Git Branches

1. Check Upstream Tracking Git Branches
2. Conclusion

This article illustrates how we can see which local branch tracks which remote/upstream branch in a git repository and how you can set up a local branch o track a remote branch.

Check Upstream Tracking Git Branches

We can run the command below to see which local branch is tracking which remote branch.

$ git branch -vv

The double verbose should display all branches in our local repository and their correspondent remote-tracking branches.

Output:

Newer versions of Git will display the remote tracking branches in blue. From the above image, we see that:

1. The branch Dev2.1 is tracking the branch Dev2.1 in the upstream orign.
2. The branch Sample_Branch is tracking the Sample_Branch branch in the upstream origin.
3. Dev_Branch, Main-Branch, main, and Master branches do not have remote tracking branches.

Let’s say we want to set up a remote tracking branch for the Master branch in one of our upstream above. We can run the following command.

$ git branch -u origin/Master

The above command should set up a remote tracking branch for our Master branch. Let’s now check, if the Master branch has a remote tracking branch.

git branch -vv

Output:

Our Master branch now has a remote tracking branch.

Conclusion

We can run the git branch command with a double verbose -vv to see which remote branch is being tracked by a local branch. We have also covered how to add a remote tracking branch to your local branch.