---
title: "A plain git repository"
description: "Use Pando with one ordinary git repo, a repository with no projects."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gitpando.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# A plain git repository

A repository on Pando does not need projects. Any ordinary git repo works on its own.

```sh
cd ~/code/acme          # any existing git repo
pando init              # it becomes a Pando repo, ramos/acme
```

`pando init` pushes your default branch as `main` and changes nothing else in the checkout. It adds `worktrees/` and `.pando/local/` to the repo's `.git/info/exclude`, so git ignores them.

On another machine:

```sh
pando clone ramos/acme
```

From then on, the repo looks like this on every machine:

```
acme/
  worktrees/
    main/          main, read-only, follows every merge
    fix-login/     a branch, one agent
```

## What you get

Everything Pando gives code:

- agents working side by side, each on its own branch in its own [worktree](/worktrees/);
- review of a branch's diff and commits, and Merge to land it;
- checks run by Buildkite or any CI, with Merge waiting for the ones you require (see [Checks and CI](/ci/));
- a main nobody can push to directly.

Plain `git clone`, `git pull` and `git push` against the repo's address (`https://<server>/<owner>/<name>.git`) work too. git asks for a password: give it a credential from `pando credential create`.

Settings that a repository with projects keeps in its shared `.pando/pando.toml` live on this repo's main branch instead, at `.pando/pando.toml`, so they change through a reviewed branch like any other file. Required checks go under `[repos."."]`.

## What you do not get

The shared files around the projects, and [references](/references/). A plain repository is one git repo, with nothing around it.

## How Pando tells the difference

`pando init` in a folder that is a git repo makes a plain repository. In a folder that is not, it makes a repository with projects: each git repo under `projects/` becomes one of its projects.

Source: https://docs.gitpando.com/plain-git/index.mdx