Hamza El Rhaffouli Blog

Remove files from your remote git repository

27 May 2020

Oops! I committed files (that I don’t want to be tracked) to the remote again.

My most frequent oversight when dealing with git is creating a commit that includes files that I do not wish to be tracked, because I forgot to update the .gitignore file.

If you have already pushed your commit, then creating a new commit with an updated .gitignore won’t delete these files from the remote (it will just keep them from being updated).

If you’re as clumsy as I am, then here’s what to do:

  • Configure your .gitignore correctly by adding the files or directories you wish to ignore.
  • Run the following commands at the base of your local repository: 
    git rm -r --cached .
git add .
git commit -m "removed unnecessary files from git"
git push origin

The files shouldn’t appear in the remote anymore.

⚠️ Important note:

This will remove the files from the current state of your remote, but they will still be visible in your git's history. This might be an issue if you committed a large file or something sensitive like credentials. In that case, you probably want to purge it from your repository's history. It's a bit more work, but here's how to do it.

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