github-org-clone

Clone all repositories from a GitHub organisation with a single command.

Quick start

./github-org-clone openshift | sh

This fetches the repo list from GitHub, then outputs git commands to stdout. Pipe to sh to run them.

By default:

• Clones to ~/src/github.com/<org>/<repo>
• Only clones public repositories
• Only clones source repositories (repos the org owns, not forks)
• Skips empty repositories

The default path follows the convention ~/src/<forge>/<org>/<repo>, so you can organise clones from different forges (github.com, gitlab.com, etc.) in one place.

Trying it out

To test without writing to ~/src, use a temporary directory:

./github-org-clone --basedir /tmp/test --shallow frobware | sh

This clones to /tmp/test/github.com/frobware/... instead. The --shallow flag makes it faster.

Keeping repos up to date

Run the same command again:

./github-org-clone openshift | sh

If a repo already exists locally, it outputs a git fetch instead of git clone. Running periodically keeps everything in sync.

Parallel cloning

For large organisations, clone in parallel:

./github-org-clone openshift | parallel --bar --eta -j 8

The --bar flag shows a progress bar, --eta shows estimated time remaining.

The included dop wrapper provides --bar and --eta by default, plus per-job logging and error summaries:

./github-org-clone openshift | ./dop -j 8

Including forks

By default, only source repos are cloned. To clone forks instead:

./github-org-clone --forks openshift | sh

Listing repositories

See what's in an org without cloning:

./github-org-clone --list openshift

Output shows repo name, parent (if it's a fork), and archived status:

release-tests       -                      -
appliance           -                      -
some-fork           upstream/original      -
old-project         -                      archived

For scripting, get JSON:

./github-org-clone --list --json openshift

Cloning specific repos

Clone only certain repos from an org:

./github-org-clone openshift release api console | sh

Options

Filtering:
  -s, --source        Only source repos, not forks (default)
  -f, --forks         Only forked repos
  -a, --no-archived   Skip archived repos
  --private           Also include private repos (default: public only)

Listing:
  -l, --list          List repos and exit
  --json              JSON output (with --list)

Cloning:
  -b, --basedir DIR   Base directory (default: ~/src, or CLONE_BASEDIR env var)
  --shallow           Shallow clones (--depth 1)

Other:
  -h, --help          Show help
  -v, --version       Show version

More examples

Clone to a different directory:

./github-org-clone --basedir /tmp/test openshift | sh

Shallow clone for a quick local copy:

./github-org-clone --shallow openshift | sh

Preview what would happen:

./github-org-clone openshift | head

Skip archived repos:

./github-org-clone --no-archived openshift | sh

Requirements

• gh (GitHub CLI) - authenticated
• jq
• git
• parallel or dop (optional, for parallel execution)