Use `git ls-remote` to Browse a Remote Repo

Today I learned about the git ls-remote command. I needed a way to see the names of branches on my remote (origin), and git ls-remote saved the day. git ls-remote lists references on a remote repository, including branches, tags, notes and more.

You can filter to just branches with -b (or just tags with -t):

git ls-remote -b origin

You don't have to limit yourself to remotes you've named in your git config either:

git ls-remote https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git

And you can filter further with patterns, if you want to find all branches beginning with feat:

git ls-remote -b origin feat*

You can include more patterns separated by spaces, and will return any references matching one or more of the patterns. The following will return any reference starting with feat OR matching main:

git ls-remote -b origin feat* main

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