How to fix fatal: remote origin already exists in Git

First, see what remotes are already configured and their URLs:

git remote -v

This shows all configured remotes with their fetch and push URLs:

origin  https://github.com/old-user/old-repo.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/old-user/old-repo.git (push)

Understanding what's currently configured helps you decide which solution to use.

If you simply want to point 'origin' to a different repository, use git remote set-url to update it:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/username/new-repository.git

Or for SSH URLs:

git remote set-url origin [email protected]:username/new-repository.git

This is the cleanest solution because:
- It preserves any tracking branch configurations
- It's a single command
- It's what Git expects you to do when changing remotes

Verify the change:

git remote -v

If you prefer a fresh start, you can remove the existing remote and add it again:

# Remove the existing origin remote
git remote remove origin

# Add the new origin remote
git remote add origin https://github.com/username/new-repository.git

This approach:
- Gives you a clean slate
- May require reconfiguring tracking branches
- Is useful if you're having other remote-related issues

Note: git remote rm origin is an alias for git remote remove origin and works the same way.

If you want to keep both the old and new remotes, rename the existing one:

# Rename 'origin' to something else (e.g., 'old-origin' or 'upstream')
git remote rename origin old-origin

# Now add the new origin
git remote add origin https://github.com/username/new-repository.git

This is useful when:
- You're forking a project and want to keep the original as 'upstream'
- You need to push to multiple remotes
- You want to preserve the original remote configuration

Common naming conventions:
- upstream - The original repository you forked from
- old-origin - The previous origin before migration
- backup - A backup remote location

In CI/CD pipelines or automation scripts, avoid git remote add for remotes that might already exist. Use conditional logic or set-url:

Recommended approach - always use set-url:

# This works whether or not origin exists
git remote set-url origin https://github.com/user/repo.git 2>/dev/null || \
git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

Bash script with check:

if git remote | grep -q '^origin$'; then
    git remote set-url origin "$REPO_URL"
else
    git remote add origin "$REPO_URL"
fi

One-liner that handles both cases:

git remote remove origin 2>/dev/null; git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

GitHub Actions example:

- name: Configure remote
  run: |
    git remote set-url origin https://x-access-token:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/${{ github.repository }}.git