my-git

Partial Clone

English

Partial clone is used to reduce the number of Git objects downloaded during a clone.

In large repositories, history and object volumes can be massive. Partial clone allows Git to fetch essential metadata first, and download objects like blobs on demand.

Examples

git clone --filter=blob:none <url>

Common meanings:

--filter=blob:none: Do not download file content objects initially; fetch them later on demand.
--filter=tree:0: Further reduce tree object downloads; suitable for more extreme large repository scenarios.

Specific support depends on the Git version and remote service capabilities.

Suitable Scenarios

Repository history is massive
The current task only requires partial files
CI wants to reduce network downloads
Initial monorepo clone is too slow

Considerations

Accessing a missing object for the first time will still trigger a download
Certain legacy tools might not understand partial clones
The effect is more pronounced when paired with sparse checkout

Recommended Combinations

git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse <url>
cd repo
git sparse-checkout set services/order