Pushing to GitHub and Gitea Simultaneously | Generated by AI

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Question: How do I push a Git repository to both GitHub and a local Gitea server on the LAN at the same time, and what is the sync mechanism behind it?

Answer:

Overview of the Sync Mechanism

Git is designed to be decentralized. When your project exists as a repo on Gitea and as a repo on GitHub, it is like the project existing on two separate servers — there is no contradiction. You can make changes to your local copy, commit them, then push to either Gitea, GitHub, or both simultaneously.

There is no automatic two-way sync between GitHub and Gitea by default. The sync is push-based and one-directional from your local machine — you are the source of truth, and both remotes receive your commits when you push. Git’s internal mechanism (pack objects, delta compression) is identical for both remotes; it just sends the same commit objects to two different endpoints.

Method 1: Two Separate Named Remotes (Most Flexible)

This is the cleanest approach — explicit and easy to manage.

# Add GitHub as remote named "github"
git remote add github git@github.com:username/repo.git

# Add local Gitea as remote named "gitea"
git remote add gitea http://192.168.1.x:3000/username/repo.git
# or via SSH: git@192.168.1.x:username/repo.git

Git lets you have multiple remotes, each with its own name. Adding GitHub and Gitea as separate remotes means you can push to both at the same time. git push github main sends commits from local main to the GitHub remote, and the same applies for Gitea.

Push to both manually:

git push github main
git push gitea main

Or create a Git alias to push both with one command:

git config --global alias.pushall '!git push github main && git push gitea main'
# Then just run:
git pushall

Method 2: Single Remote with Multiple Push URLs (One git push command)

You can define a git remote that points to multiple push URLs. For example, create one called all, add the first URL, then add the second URL:

# Create "all" remote pointing to GitHub
git remote add all git@github.com:username/repo.git

# Add GitHub as 1st push URL
git remote set-url --add --push all git@github.com:username/repo.git

# Add Gitea as 2nd push URL
git remote set-url --add --push all http://192.168.1.x:3000/username/repo.git

Verify with:

git remote -v
# Output:
# all  git@github.com:username/repo.git (fetch)
# all  git@github.com:username/repo.git (push)
# all  http://192.168.1.x:3000/username/repo.git (push)

A git fetch or git pull will use the first URL in the list, while git push will push to all push URLs configured for that remote.

Now a single command pushes to both:

git push all main

Method 3: Modify origin to Push to Both (If origin already exists)

If you already have origin pointing to GitHub:

# Keep existing origin fetch URL (GitHub)
# Add Gitea as an additional push-only URL
git remote set-url --add --push origin http://192.168.1.x:3000/username/repo.git

Now origin will still fetch from GitHub, but will push to both GitHub and Gitea.

Method 4: Automate via Git Post-Commit Hook

You can use a post-commit hook to automatically push to both remotes after every commit. Navigate to .git/hooks/, create a file named post-commit, and add the following script:

#!/bin/sh
# Push changes to Gitea
git push gitea main
# Push changes to GitHub
git push github main

Then make it executable:

chmod +x .git/hooks/post-commit

Sync Mechanism Summary

Aspect Detail
Direction Local → both remotes (push-based)
Atomicity Pushes are sequential, not atomic — one can succeed while the other fails
Fetch/Pull Only fetches from one remote (the fetch URL, usually GitHub)
Conflict handling Must be resolved locally; both remotes should ideally stay in sync
LAN vs Internet Gitea on LAN is fast; GitHub push goes over internet separately

Authentication Tips

References:

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