How to fix fatal: not a valid object name: branch-name in Git

# List all local branches
git branch

# List all branches including remote tracking branches
git branch -a

# List all tags
git tag

# Show all refs with their commit hashes
git show-ref

# Fetch all branches and tags from origin
git fetch origin

# Fetch all remotes
git fetch --all

# Fetch with tags
git fetch --tags

# Archive using the remote tracking branch
git archive origin/main -o archive.tar.gz

# List remote branches with exact names
git branch -r

# Check if a specific ref exists
git show-ref --verify refs/heads/your-branch

# Or use rev-parse to test if a name resolves
git rev-parse --verify your-branch

# Check if any commits exist
git log --oneline -1

# If this fails, create an initial commit first
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

# Now git archive will work
git archive HEAD -o archive.tar.gz

# Check if you have a shallow clone
git rev-parse --is-shallow-repository

# If true, fetch the full history
git fetch --unshallow

# Or fetch specific depth
git fetch --depth=100

# Archive a local branch
git archive main -o main.tar.gz

# Archive a remote tracking branch
git archive origin/main -o main.tar.gz

# Archive a specific tag
git archive v1.0.0 -o release.tar.gz

# Archive a specific commit
git archive abc1234 -o commit.tar.gz

# Archive HEAD (current commit)
git archive HEAD -o current.tar.gz

# Archive from a remote repository directly
git archive --remote=git://example.com/repo.git main -o archive.tar.gz