Open, Clone, or Initialize a Git Repository in GitKraken Desktop

Last updated: February 2026

Each user will need to open, clone, or initialize a repository in GitKraken Desktop. This guide explains how.

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Quick Start

Open, clone, or initialize repositories in GitKraken Desktop from the Repository Management tab.

To open an existing local repository:

1. Click the folder icon in the top-left corner or press Alt + O (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + O (Mac).
2. Click Browse and select your repository folder.

To clone a remote repository:

1. Open the Repository Management tab and click Clone.
2. Enter the repository URL or select a repository from your connected integration.
3. Click Clone the repo to download it locally.

To initialize a new repository:

1. Click Init in the Repository Management tab.
2. Fill in the repository path and optional settings (.gitignore, license).
3. Click Create Repository to create the repo and open it.

Shallow clone is supported when cloning. Enable the Shallow Clone option in the Clone dialog to limit commit history by depth or date. Access all three options from the Repository Management tab, the New Tab, or File > Clone / Init / Open.

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Setup

Complete these setup steps before managing repositories:

1. Install GitKraken Desktop
2. Create an account and configure your profile

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Repository Management

The Repository Management tab provides an overview of active repositories, Workspaces, and favorites. Open this tab by clicking the folder icon in the top-left or using:

• Alt + O (Windows/Linux)
• Cmd + O (Mac)

From here, you can:

• Browse: Open a local Git repository.
• Clone: Copy a remote Git repository to your machine.
• Init: Initialize a new Git repository or reinitialize an existing one.

This tab also includes Workspaces and repository actions:

• Open in VS Code
• View repository details (README.md panel)
• Open/Close repo tab

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Open an Existing Project

To open an existing repo:

1. From Repository Management, select Browse
2. Use the file explorer to locate your repo

You can also access this via the New Tab by clicking the + icon.

Open Shallow Cloned Repos

GitKraken Desktop supports opening shallow cloned repositories.

No special setup is required. Just navigate to the shallow clone’s location and open it as you would any other repository (see above).

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Clone a Project

To clone a remote repo:

1. In Repository Management, select Clone

2. You can also access clone options via File > Clone or the New Tab.

Shallow Clone

GitKraken Desktop supports shallow cloning when cloning a repository. Shallow clones let you limit the commit history that is downloaded, which can significantly reduce clone time and disk usage for large repositories.

To perform a shallow clone:

1. Open the Clone dialog from Repository Management, the New Tab, or File > Clone.
2. Select the repository you want to clone.
3. Enable the Shallow Clone option.

When Shallow Clone is selected, additional options become available:

• Branch to clone: Specify the branch to clone. By default, GitKraken Desktop uses the repository’s default branch.
• Depth: Set how many commits deep to clone from the selected branch.
• Since date: Limit the clone to commits newer than a specific date.
• Custom flags: Provide any additional flags you typically pass to the git clone command. Enter these exactly as you would in the command-line interface.

4. Click Clone the repo! to complete the shallow clone.

After cloning, the repository opens automatically in GitKraken Desktop.

Sparse Checkout

Sparse checkout lets you check out only a subset of files from a repository, keeping your working directory smaller and improving performance on large repositories such as monorepos.

To perform a sparse checkout when cloning:

1. Open the Clone dialog from Repository Management, the New Tab, or File > Clone.
2. Select the repository you want to clone.
3. Enable the Sparse Checkout option.
4. In the Paths to include field, enter one path per line (for example, src/, docs/, README.md). If no paths are provided, only root-level files will be checked out.

5. Click Clone the repo! to complete the clone.

Configuring sparse checkout on an existing repository

To enable or update sparse checkout rules on a repository you have already opened, go to Preferences > Sparse Checkout for that repository.

From this panel you can:

• Enable sparse checkout — activates sparse checkout using the paths you have entered.
• Disable sparse checkout — turns off sparse checkout and restores the full working directory.
• Reapply sparse checkout — re-applies the current path rules, useful after pulling in new files or resolving inconsistencies.

When a repository has sparse checkout active, a Sparse button appears in the toolbar. Click it to quickly edit your sparse checkout paths, disable sparse checkout, or reapply the current rules without opening Preferences.

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Initialize a New Project

To start a new repo:

1. Select Init in Repository Management.

2. Fill in:

   • Repository path
   • .gitignore template (optional)
   • License (optional)

3. Click Create Repository

Also accessible via File > Init or New Tab.

Initialization result:

• .git directory created
• Repo opens in GitKraken Desktop
• Includes README.md, and optionally .gitignore and LICENSE

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Customize Repository Management

• Drag and drop group headers to reorder
• Change colors via Change color in the repo group menu
• Set default colors in Preferences > UI Customization