fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories — how to fix

fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories

Quick fix: Run git pull origin main --allow-unrelated-histories, resolve any conflicts, then commit.

What it means

Git found that the two branches you are combining have no commit in common. They are two separate projects as far as Git is concerned, so since Git 2.9 it refuses to merge them unless you say that's what you want.

Why it happens

• You ran git init locally, made commits, then added a remote that already has commits (often a README, LICENSE or .gitignore created on GitHub/GitLab when you made the repository).
• You re-created the .git folder, so your local history no longer matches the remote.
• You are combining two different repositories on purpose.

Fix 1: allow the merge (most common)

git pull origin main --allow-unrelated-histories
# resolve conflicts if any (often README.md), then:
git add .
git commit -m "Merge remote history"
git push origin main

Replace main with your branch name (master on older repos).

Fix 2: rebase your commits on top of the remote

This keeps a straight history without a merge commit:

git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
git push origin main

If Git still complains, git rebase --root --onto origin/main replays every local commit, including the first one, on top of the remote.

Fix 3: the remote content doesn't matter

If the remote only has a generated README you don't need, overwrite it. This deletes the remote commits:

git push --force origin main

How to avoid it

When creating a repository on GitHub for an existing local project, leave "Add a README", ".gitignore" and "license" unchecked, then push your local repository into the empty remote.

Last updated 2026-10-27.