How to fix fatal: The remote you are trying to track already exists in Git

First, view your currently configured remotes to understand the situation:

git remote -v

This shows all remotes with their fetch and push URLs. You'll likely see something like:

origin  https://github.com/olduser/oldrepo.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/olduser/oldrepo.git (push)

Now you know what remote already exists and can decide how to proceed.

If you want to change where the existing remote points to, use set-url:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/yourname/newrepo.git

This updates the URL for the existing "origin" remote without removing any configuration. Verify the change:

git remote -v

You should now see the new URL. This is the safest and most common solution.

If you prefer to start fresh with the remote configuration:

# Remove the existing remote
git remote remove origin

# Add it back with the new URL
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourname/newrepo.git

Verify the change:

git remote -v

This approach is useful when you want a clean slate or if set-url doesn't work for some reason.

If you want to keep the original remote and add a new one, rename the existing remote first:

# Rename 'origin' to something else
git remote rename origin old-origin

# Now add your new origin
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourname/newrepo.git

Verify both remotes exist:

git remote -v

This is useful when migrating between providers and you want to keep a reference to the old repository.

If you need to add a second remote without modifying the existing one, simply use a different name:

# Add as 'upstream' (common for forks)
git remote add upstream https://github.com/original/repo.git

# Or use any descriptive name
git remote add github https://github.com/yourname/repo.git
git remote add gitlab https://gitlab.com/yourname/repo.git

Common remote naming conventions:
- origin: Your primary remote (usually your fork or main repo)
- upstream: The original repository you forked from
- Provider names (github, gitlab, bitbucket): When pushing to multiple platforms

After updating your remote configuration, push your code:

# Push and set upstream tracking
git push -u origin main

If your local branch is named 'master' instead of 'main':

git push -u origin master

The -u flag sets up tracking so future git push and git pull commands know which remote branch to use.