warning: LF will be replaced by CRLF the next time Git touches it — how to fix

warning: in the working copy of 'index.js', LF will be replaced by CRLF the next time Git touches it

Quick fix: It's only a warning. To make line endings consistent, add a .gitattributes with * text=auto eol=lf, then run git add --renormalize ..

What it means

Windows uses CRLF (\r\n) line endings, Linux and macOS use LF (\n). With core.autocrlf=true (the Git for Windows default), Git stores LF in the repository and converts to CRLF in your working folder. The warning just tells you a file will be converted. Nothing is broken.

Make it consistent for everyone (recommended)

Add a .gitattributes file at the repository root:

* text=auto eol=lf
*.bat text eol=crlf
*.png binary

Then renormalise once and commit:

git add --renormalize .
git commit -m "Normalize line endings"

.gitattributes is committed, so every clone gets the same behaviour, unlike core.autocrlf which is a per-machine setting.

Just silence it

Choose your preference globally:

git config --global core.autocrlf input   # store LF, don't convert to CRLF on checkout
git config --global core.safecrlf false   # don't warn

When it matters

Shell scripts with CRLF fail on Linux with bad interpreter: ^M errors, so files that run on Linux or in Docker should be LF. Most modern Windows editors handle LF without problems.

Last updated 2026-10-27.