How git pull Works (Fetch + Merge)

git pull downloads new commits from a remote branch and immediately merges them into your current local branch.

Published September 27, 2026

git pull downloads new commits from a remote branch and immediately merges them into your current local branch.

Key points

  • It is equivalent to running git fetch followed by git merge
  • git pull --rebase fetches and rebases your local commits on top instead of creating a merge commit
  • A pull can produce merge conflicts if both you and the remote changed the same lines

Example

git pull origin main
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