git · Git
The message
fatal: The current branch feature has no upstream branch.
What it means
This branch has no remote counterpart recorded, so a bare git push or git pull does not know where to go. It happens when you created a branch with git switch -c and never pushed it. git push --set-upstream origin feature creates the branch on the server and records the pairing once, after which plain git push is enough. The command only writes one line of local config and one new branch on the server, so it deletes nothing and is safe to repeat.
The fix
git push --set-upstream origin feature- Printed by
- git
- Git
- 29
Almost every git error is a refusal that means "doing that from this state would lose something"; fatal: means git stopped without changing anything, and the hint: lines under the first line usually carry the actual remedy.
Reading an error message
- Read from the first line down. The lower you go the more it is about the tool’s internals; the cause is usually at the top.
- If there is a file and a line number, start there — not the top stack frame, but the topmost line that names a file you wrote.
- Search the message verbatim, but strip your own paths and variable names first; those are what stop the search from matching.
- The same condition is worded differently across tool versions. If results look wrong, add the version number to the query.
- Before pasting a fix, check what it throws away. Some of these cannot be undone.
Common questions
Q. What does “fatal: The current branch feature has no upstream branch.” mean?
This branch has no remote counterpart recorded, so a bare git push or git pull does not know where to go. It happens when you created a branch with git switch -c and never pushed it. git push --set-upstream origin feature creates the branch on the server and records the pairing once, after which plain git push is enough. The command only writes one line of local config and one new branch on the server, so it deletes nothing and is safe to repeat.
Q. How do I fix it?
git push --set-upstream origin feature — before running it, check the explanation above for what this command discards.
Q. Which tool prints this?
git. It sits under Git, and the message runs to 9 words.