How to fix remote: error: pack exceeds maximum allowed size in Git

Check your Git hosting provider's documentation for push size limits:

- GitHub: 2 GB maximum per push
- GitLab.com: 10 GB repository limit (free tier), ask admins about push limits
- Bitbucket Cloud: Typically 2-4 GB limits
- Self-hosted: Check with your Git administrator

If you're under the limit and still seeing this error, the issue may be with intermediate proxies or misconfiguration.

Instead of pushing all commits at once, push earlier commits first, then gradually add more:

# Push an early commit to create the branch
git push origin <early-commit-sha>:refs/heads/main

# Push a commit halfway through history
git push origin <middle-commit-sha>:refs/heads/main

# Finally push the latest
git push origin main

For systematic incremental pushes:

# Push in batches of 500 commits
git push origin main~2000:main
git push origin main~1500:main
git push origin main~1000:main
git push origin main~500:main
git push origin main

Adjust the step size based on your repository. If a single commit is too large, this won't help—you'll need to split the commit or use Git LFS.

Use git-sizer to analyze what's consuming space:

# Install git-sizer (macOS)
brew install git-sizer

# Or download from https://github.com/github/git-sizer/releases

# Analyze your repository
git-sizer --verbose

If large files are identified, migrate them to Git LFS:

# Install Git LFS
git lfs install

# Track large file types
git lfs track "*.psd"
git lfs track "*.zip"
git lfs track "*.mp4"

# Migrate existing files in history (WARNING: rewrites history)
git lfs migrate import --include="*.psd,*.zip" --everything

# Push LFS files
git lfs push --all origin

# Push Git commits
git push origin main

Warning: git lfs migrate rewrites history. Coordinate with your team before running this on shared branches.

While often suggested, http.postBuffer only helps with buggy proxies that don't support HTTP/1.1 chunked transfer encoding. Try it, but don't expect it to solve server-side pack limits:

# Increase buffer to 500 MB
git config --global http.postBuffer 524288000

# Or up to 2 GB (maximum practical value)
git config --global http.postBuffer 2000000000

This adjusts how Git buffers data locally before sending it. It does not change the server's maximum pack size limit.

If you control the Git server, increase the receive limits:

GitLab (self-hosted):

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

gitlab_rails['max_push_size'] = 5.gigabytes

Then reconfigure:

sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Gitea/Gitolite:

Increase receive.maxInputSize in Git config:

git config --system receive.maxInputSize 5g

Reverse proxy (nginx):

Increase client_max_body_size in nginx config:

http {
    client_max_body_size 2G;
}

Reload nginx: sudo nginx -s reload

If your local repository is bloated and you don't need full history, create a shallow clone:

# Clone only recent history
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/user/repo.git
cd repo

# Add new remote
git remote add new-origin https://new-server.com/user/repo.git

# Push shallow history
git push new-origin main

This reduces the pack size by excluding historical commits. Use --depth 100 for more history if needed.