---
title: 'git repository rules'
---

The following functions can be loaded from
`@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:git.bzl`.
<!-- Generated with Stardoc: http://skydoc.bazel.build -->

Rules for cloning external git repositories.

<a id="git_repository"></a>

## git_repository

<pre>
git_repository(<a href="#git_repository-name">name</a>, <a href="#git_repository-branch">branch</a>, <a href="#git_repository-build_file">build_file</a>, <a href="#git_repository-build_file_content">build_file_content</a>, <a href="#git_repository-commit">commit</a>, <a href="#git_repository-init_submodules">init_submodules</a>, <a href="#git_repository-patch_args">patch_args</a>,
               <a href="#git_repository-patch_cmds">patch_cmds</a>, <a href="#git_repository-patch_cmds_win">patch_cmds_win</a>, <a href="#git_repository-patch_tool">patch_tool</a>, <a href="#git_repository-patches">patches</a>, <a href="#git_repository-recursive_init_submodules">recursive_init_submodules</a>, <a href="#git_repository-remote">remote</a>,
               <a href="#git_repository-repo_mapping">repo_mapping</a>, <a href="#git_repository-shallow_since">shallow_since</a>, <a href="#git_repository-strip_prefix">strip_prefix</a>, <a href="#git_repository-tag">tag</a>, <a href="#git_repository-verbose">verbose</a>, <a href="#git_repository-workspace_file">workspace_file</a>,
               <a href="#git_repository-workspace_file_content">workspace_file_content</a>)
</pre>

Clone an external git repository.

Clones a Git repository, checks out the specified tag, or commit, and
makes its targets available for binding. Also determine the id of the
commit actually checked out and its date, and return a dict with parameters
that provide a reproducible version of this rule (which a tag not necessarily
is).

Bazel will first try to perform a shallow fetch of only the specified commit.
If that fails (usually due to missing server support), it will fall back to a
full fetch of the repository.

Prefer [`http_archive`](/versions/7.4.0/rules/lib/repo/http#http_archive) to `git_repository`.
The reasons are:

* Git repository rules depend on system `git(1)` whereas the HTTP downloader is built
  into Bazel and has no system dependencies.
* `http_archive` supports a list of `urls` as mirrors, and `git_repository` supports only
  a single `remote`.
* `http_archive` works with the [repository cache](/versions/7.4.0/run/build#repository-cache), but not
  `git_repository`. See
   [#5116](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/5116){: .external} for more information.

### Attributes

<table class="params-table">
<colgroup>
<col class="col-param" />
<col class="col-description" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr id="git_repository-name">
<td><code>name</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels#target-names">Name</a>; required

<p>

A unique name for this repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-branch">
<td><code>branch</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

branch in the remote repository to checked out. Precisely one of branch, tag, or commit must be specified.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-build_file">
<td><code>build_file</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels">Label</a>; optional

<p>

The file to use as the BUILD file for this repository.This attribute is an absolute label (use '@//' for the main repo). The file does not need to be named BUILD, but can be (something like BUILD.new-repo-name may work well for distinguishing it from the repository's actual BUILD files.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-build_file_content">
<td><code>build_file_content</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

The content for the BUILD file for this repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-commit">
<td><code>commit</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

specific commit to be checked out. Precisely one of branch, tag, or commit must be specified.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-init_submodules">
<td><code>init_submodules</code></td>
<td>

Boolean; optional

<p>

Whether to clone submodules in the repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-patch_args">
<td><code>patch_args</code></td>
<td>

List of strings; optional

<p>

The arguments given to the patch tool. Defaults to -p0, however -p1 will usually be needed for patches generated by git. If multiple -p arguments are specified, the last one will take effect.If arguments other than -p are specified, Bazel will fall back to use patch command line tool instead of the Bazel-native patch implementation. When falling back to patch command line tool and patch_tool attribute is not specified, `patch` will be used.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-patch_cmds">
<td><code>patch_cmds</code></td>
<td>

List of strings; optional

<p>

Sequence of Bash commands to be applied on Linux/Macos after patches are applied.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-patch_cmds_win">
<td><code>patch_cmds_win</code></td>
<td>

List of strings; optional

<p>

Sequence of Powershell commands to be applied on Windows after patches are applied. If this attribute is not set, patch_cmds will be executed on Windows, which requires Bash binary to exist.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-patch_tool">
<td><code>patch_tool</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

The patch(1) utility to use. If this is specified, Bazel will use the specified patch tool instead of the Bazel-native patch implementation.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-patches">
<td><code>patches</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels">List of labels</a>; optional

<p>

A list of files that are to be applied as patches after extracting the archive. By default, it uses the Bazel-native patch implementation which doesn't support fuzz match and binary patch, but Bazel will fall back to use patch command line tool if `patch_tool` attribute is specified or there are arguments other than `-p` in `patch_args` attribute.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-recursive_init_submodules">
<td><code>recursive_init_submodules</code></td>
<td>

Boolean; optional

<p>

Whether to clone submodules recursively in the repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-remote">
<td><code>remote</code></td>
<td>

String; required

<p>

The URI of the remote Git repository

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-repo_mapping">
<td><code>repo_mapping</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/rules/lib/dict">Dictionary: String -> String</a>; required

<p>

A dictionary from local repository name to global repository name. This allows controls over workspace dependency resolution for dependencies of this repository.<p>For example, an entry `"@foo": "@bar"` declares that, for any time this repository depends on `@foo` (such as a dependency on `@foo//some:target`, it should actually resolve that dependency within globally-declared `@bar` (`@bar//some:target`).

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-shallow_since">
<td><code>shallow_since</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

an optional date, not after the specified commit; the argument is not allowed if a tag or branch is specified (which can always be cloned with --depth=1). Setting such a date close to the specified commit may allow for a shallow clone of the repository even if the server does not support shallow fetches of arbitary commits. Due to bugs in git's --shallow-since implementation, using this attribute is not recommended as it may result in fetch failures.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-strip_prefix">
<td><code>strip_prefix</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

A directory prefix to strip from the extracted files.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-tag">
<td><code>tag</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

tag in the remote repository to checked out. Precisely one of branch, tag, or commit must be specified.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-verbose">
<td><code>verbose</code></td>
<td>

Boolean; optional

</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-workspace_file">
<td><code>workspace_file</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels">Label</a>; optional

<p>

The file to use as the `WORKSPACE` file for this repository. Either `workspace_file` or `workspace_file_content` can be specified, or neither, but not both.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="git_repository-workspace_file_content">
<td><code>workspace_file_content</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

The content for the WORKSPACE file for this repository. Either `workspace_file` or `workspace_file_content` can be specified, or neither, but not both.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<a id="new_git_repository"></a>

## new_git_repository

<pre>
new_git_repository(<a href="#new_git_repository-name">name</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-branch">branch</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-build_file">build_file</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-build_file_content">build_file_content</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-commit">commit</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-init_submodules">init_submodules</a>,
                   <a href="#new_git_repository-patch_args">patch_args</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-patch_cmds">patch_cmds</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-patch_cmds_win">patch_cmds_win</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-patch_tool">patch_tool</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-patches">patches</a>,
                   <a href="#new_git_repository-recursive_init_submodules">recursive_init_submodules</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-remote">remote</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-repo_mapping">repo_mapping</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-shallow_since">shallow_since</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-strip_prefix">strip_prefix</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-tag">tag</a>,
                   <a href="#new_git_repository-verbose">verbose</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-workspace_file">workspace_file</a>, <a href="#new_git_repository-workspace_file_content">workspace_file_content</a>)
</pre>

Clone an external git repository.

Clones a Git repository, checks out the specified tag, or commit, and
makes its targets available for binding. Also determine the id of the
commit actually checked out and its date, and return a dict with parameters
that provide a reproducible version of this rule (which a tag not necessarily
is).

Bazel will first try to perform a shallow fetch of only the specified commit.
If that fails (usually due to missing server support), it will fall back to a
full fetch of the repository.

Prefer [`http_archive`](/versions/7.4.0/rules/lib/repo/http#http_archive) to `git_repository`.
The reasons are:

* Git repository rules depend on system `git(1)` whereas the HTTP downloader is built
  into Bazel and has no system dependencies.
* `http_archive` supports a list of `urls` as mirrors, and `git_repository` supports only
  a single `remote`.
* `http_archive` works with the [repository cache](/versions/7.4.0/run/build#repository-cache), but not
  `git_repository`. See
   [#5116](https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/5116){: .external} for more information.

### Attributes

<table class="params-table">
<colgroup>
<col class="col-param" />
<col class="col-description" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr id="new_git_repository-name">
<td><code>name</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels#target-names">Name</a>; required

<p>

A unique name for this repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-branch">
<td><code>branch</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

branch in the remote repository to checked out. Precisely one of branch, tag, or commit must be specified.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-build_file">
<td><code>build_file</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels">Label</a>; optional

<p>

The file to use as the BUILD file for this repository.This attribute is an absolute label (use '@//' for the main repo). The file does not need to be named BUILD, but can be (something like BUILD.new-repo-name may work well for distinguishing it from the repository's actual BUILD files.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-build_file_content">
<td><code>build_file_content</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

The content for the BUILD file for this repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-commit">
<td><code>commit</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

specific commit to be checked out. Precisely one of branch, tag, or commit must be specified.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-init_submodules">
<td><code>init_submodules</code></td>
<td>

Boolean; optional

<p>

Whether to clone submodules in the repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-patch_args">
<td><code>patch_args</code></td>
<td>

List of strings; optional

<p>

The arguments given to the patch tool. Defaults to -p0, however -p1 will usually be needed for patches generated by git. If multiple -p arguments are specified, the last one will take effect.If arguments other than -p are specified, Bazel will fall back to use patch command line tool instead of the Bazel-native patch implementation. When falling back to patch command line tool and patch_tool attribute is not specified, `patch` will be used.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-patch_cmds">
<td><code>patch_cmds</code></td>
<td>

List of strings; optional

<p>

Sequence of Bash commands to be applied on Linux/Macos after patches are applied.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-patch_cmds_win">
<td><code>patch_cmds_win</code></td>
<td>

List of strings; optional

<p>

Sequence of Powershell commands to be applied on Windows after patches are applied. If this attribute is not set, patch_cmds will be executed on Windows, which requires Bash binary to exist.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-patch_tool">
<td><code>patch_tool</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

The patch(1) utility to use. If this is specified, Bazel will use the specified patch tool instead of the Bazel-native patch implementation.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-patches">
<td><code>patches</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels">List of labels</a>; optional

<p>

A list of files that are to be applied as patches after extracting the archive. By default, it uses the Bazel-native patch implementation which doesn't support fuzz match and binary patch, but Bazel will fall back to use patch command line tool if `patch_tool` attribute is specified or there are arguments other than `-p` in `patch_args` attribute.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-recursive_init_submodules">
<td><code>recursive_init_submodules</code></td>
<td>

Boolean; optional

<p>

Whether to clone submodules recursively in the repository.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-remote">
<td><code>remote</code></td>
<td>

String; required

<p>

The URI of the remote Git repository

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-repo_mapping">
<td><code>repo_mapping</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/rules/lib/dict">Dictionary: String -> String</a>; required

<p>

A dictionary from local repository name to global repository name. This allows controls over workspace dependency resolution for dependencies of this repository.<p>For example, an entry `"@foo": "@bar"` declares that, for any time this repository depends on `@foo` (such as a dependency on `@foo//some:target`, it should actually resolve that dependency within globally-declared `@bar` (`@bar//some:target`).

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-shallow_since">
<td><code>shallow_since</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

an optional date, not after the specified commit; the argument is not allowed if a tag or branch is specified (which can always be cloned with --depth=1). Setting such a date close to the specified commit may allow for a shallow clone of the repository even if the server does not support shallow fetches of arbitary commits. Due to bugs in git's --shallow-since implementation, using this attribute is not recommended as it may result in fetch failures.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-strip_prefix">
<td><code>strip_prefix</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

A directory prefix to strip from the extracted files.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-tag">
<td><code>tag</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

tag in the remote repository to checked out. Precisely one of branch, tag, or commit must be specified.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-verbose">
<td><code>verbose</code></td>
<td>

Boolean; optional

</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-workspace_file">
<td><code>workspace_file</code></td>
<td>

<a href="https://bazel.build/versions/7.4.0/concepts/labels">Label</a>; optional

<p>

The file to use as the `WORKSPACE` file for this repository. Either `workspace_file` or `workspace_file_content` can be specified, or neither, but not both.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="new_git_repository-workspace_file_content">
<td><code>workspace_file_content</code></td>
<td>

String; optional

<p>

The content for the WORKSPACE file for this repository. Either `workspace_file` or `workspace_file_content` can be specified, or neither, but not both.

</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

