GitHub Changing the default branch

If you have more than one branch in your repository, you can configure any branch as the default branch.

People with admin permissions to a repository can change the default branch for the repository.

About changing the default branch

You can choose the default branch for a repository. The default branch is the base branch for pull requests and code commits. For more information about the default branch, see "About branches."

Note: If you use the Git-Subversion bridge, changing the default branch will affect your trunk branch contents and the HEAD you see when you list references for the remote repository. For more information, see "Support for Subversion clients" and git-ls-remote in the Git documentation.

You can set the name of the default branch for new repositories. For more information, see "Managing the default branch for your repositories," "Managing the default branch name for repositories in your organization," and "Enforcing repository management policies in your enterprise."

Prerequisites

To change the default branch, your repository must have more than one branch. For more information, see "Creating and deleting branches within your repository."

Changing the default branch

1. On your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, navigate to the main page of the repository.
2. Under your repository name, click  Settings.

   

3. In the left menu, click Branches.

   

4. Under "Default branch", to the right of the default branch name, click .

   

5. Use the drop-down, then click a branch name.

   

6. Click Update.

   

7. Read the warning, then click I understand, update the default branch.