Git Push and Pull Simultaneously

Git Push and Pull Simultaneously | Generated by AI

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Question: Can we perform git push and git pull at the same time on the same repository?

Answer:

No, you cannot safely or successfully perform git push and git pull truly simultaneously on the same repository (same branch, same machine or especially from different machines/users).

Here’s why and what actually happens:

1. On the same machine (single user)

Git does not allow running two Git commands that affect the same repository at exactly the same time because of file locking.

If you try to run git pull while a git push is in progress (or vice versa), one command will fail with an error like:

fatal: Unable to access '.git/index': Resource temporarily unavailable

error: could not lock config file .git/config: File exists

So technically, Git prevents true simultaneous execution.

2. From different machines/users (multiple collaborators)

This is the more common and dangerous scenario.

Yes, technically, two people can run git push and git pull at nearly the same time.
But this creates race conditions:
- Person A runs git pull → gets current state
- Person B pushes new commits
- Person A makes changes and pushes → may succeed (non-fast-forward) or fail (if remote has new commits)
- If both push around the same time without pulling first → one push will be rejected with:
```
! [rejected]        main -> main (fetch first)
error: failed to push some refs to '...'
hint: Updates were rejected because the remote contains work that you do not have locally.
```

This is why the standard safe workflow is:

git pull --rebase    # or git fetch + git rebase
# make changes
git push

Best Practices to Avoid Conflicts

Always git pull (or git fetch) before starting new work and before pushing.
Use git pull --rebase to keep linear history.
Or better: git fetch then git rebase origin/main before pushing.
On protected branches (GitHub/GitLab), enable “Require up-to-date branches” so pushes fail if you’re not current.

Summary

Scenario	Possible?	Safe?	Result
Same machine, same time	No (Git blocks it)	N/A	One command fails with lock error
Different machines, same time	Yes	No	Risk of rejected push or merge conflicts
Proper workflow (pull then push)	Yes	Yes	Smooth collaboration

Bottom line: Never rely on pushing and pulling “at the same time”. Always pull/fetch first before pushing.

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