Learn how to set the default branch name for new Git repositories locally and globally to match your preferred workflow.

Setting Default Branch Name in Git

By default, Git initializes new repositories with the branch named master. Many teams prefer to use main or another name as the default branch.

This lesson explains how to configure Git to use your preferred default branch name globally or per repository.

Checking Current Default Branch

New repositories start with the branch named master by default unless changed.

To change the default branch name for all new repositories on your machine:

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Inside an existing repo, override the default for that repo only:

git config init.defaultBranch develop

After setting this, git init will create the initial branch with your chosen name.

git init myproject
cd myproject
git branch

This shows the current branch name, matching your default configuration.

Configuring your default branch name ensures consistency across projects and aligns with modern Git conventions.