Fetch Without Merge

In Git, you can fetch changes from a remote repository without merging them into your current branch. This allows you to review, compare, or manipulate changes before deciding to merge or rebase.

git fetch — Fetch Without Merge

git fetch origin

This command:

• Downloads commits, branches, and tags from the remote (origin).
• Does NOT merge them into your current branch.
• Updates remote-tracking branches (e.g., origin/main) locally.

Example Workflow

# You're on 'main'
git fetch origin

# Now you can inspect the fetched changes
git log HEAD..origin/main --oneline
# Or diff them
git diff origin/main
# Or test-merge them into a temp branch
git checkout -b test-merge origin/main

Remote-Tracking Branches

After git fetch, you’ll see updates in:

• origin/main → latest main branch on remote
• origin/feature-x → latest feature branch on remote

Your local branches stay untouched.

fetch vs pull

To fetch without merging, always use:

git fetch