GitHub: ERROR: Repository not found. fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly (different from similar posts apparently)

32
votes

I created a directory, hello_git. In this directory I created a file, hello_git.py, which prints out a "Hello git!" message.

Then I made hello_git my current directory in the terminal and entered the following commands one after another in that directory:

git init
git add hello_git.py
git commit -m 'first commit'
git remote add origin [email protected]:githubaccountname/hello_git.git

When I enter the command git push origin master I get asked:

Enter passphrase for key '/home/myusername/.ssh/id_rsa':

When I enter my passphrase (which authenticates successfully using ssh -T [email protected]) I get this:

ERROR: Repository not found.
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

I don't know if this helps, but:

git remote -v

returns:

origin    [email protected]:githubaccountname/hello_git.git (fetch)
origin    [email protected]:githubaccountname/hello_git.git (push)

I have looked into answers of similar posts, but nothing seems to work:

7
gitgithub
I think hello_gitty would be a much better name for a sandbox/testing repo! :p – ThiefMaster
Does the repository actually exist on github? – Eric
There is no repository of it on github, I thought it autocreated that for me. Solved. Could you post a seperate post for this so I can vote it as the correct answer? – Bentley4
@Bentley4: There's your problem. I'd say the error message is very clear. – Eric

7 Answers

21
votes

The error message says it all

ERROR: Repository not found.

Is there a Git repository where you're looking?

You need to create the repository on GitHub first. It can't find the repository because it doesn't exist yet!

25
votes

Eric has already given the best answer for this question in the case that the repository does not exist, but I want to point out that:

The response pair of "Repository not found. / remote end hung up unexpectedly" is also given by GitHub when the repository does exist, but the user does not have permission to push to it.

If you're absolutely certain that the repository already exists on GitHub, make sure the account you're using has permission to push to that repository.

6
votes

Either the repository doesn't exist or you don't have the right permission.

More information is on Error: Repository not found.

Also, if you have multiple GitHub accounts (which is actually disallowed), you need multiple ssh keys to be stored with GitHub.

More information is on Quick Tip: How to Work with GitHub and Multiple Accounts.

4
votes

Did you perhaps rename your repository? If you renamed your repository on GitHub, you need to update the origin accordingly. This has happened to me once, where I renamed my repository and forgot to update the origin settings in my laptop.

2
votes

In my case a problem was in a wrong URL.

Instead of

https://gitlab.com/username/my_repository.git

I wrote

https://gitlab.com/username/my_repository/ (copied from a browser)

2
votes

This can also happen if you've stored incorrect credentials. You can clear the repo's memory to be re-prompted on your next push with this: git config --unset credential.helper

0
votes

I just encountered this same issue. If none of the other solutions work, it may be because GitHub is having problems with their SSH access, as it says on their status page (https://status.github.com/)

"We are investigating problems with repository access and some GitHub.com features. We will report back once we have more information to share."