Automating GitHub Repository Transfers Between Organisations

Migrating repositories from one GitHub organisation to another manually is straightforward for one or two repos — but when you're dealing with dozens, it becomes repetitive and error-prone. This script automates the entire process: creating the destination repos, mirror-cloning the source, and pushing everything across in one run.

What the script does

The script copies a list of repositories from one GitHub organisation to another by mirror-cloning each repo and pushing it to a newly created private repo in the target organisation. The source repos are left completely untouched throughout the process.

How to use it

bash
./transfer-github-repo-from-org-to-org.sh

Before running, update the three configuration variables at the top of the script — source org, target org, and the list of repos to transfer.

The full script

bash
#!/bin/bash
# =============================================================================
# GitHub Org-to-Org Repository Transfer
# =============================================================================
# Description:
#   Copies a list of repositories from one GitHub organisation to another by
#   mirror-cloning each repo and pushing it to a newly created private repo in
#   the target org. The source repos are left untouched.
#
# Prerequisites:
#   - GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated: gh auth login
#   - git installed
#   - The authenticated user must have:
#       * read access to each repo in SOURCE_ORG
#       * permission to create repos in TARGET_ORG
# =============================================================================

# Source organisation to copy repos from
SOURCE_ORG="source-org-name"
# Destination organisation to copy repos into
TARGET_ORG="target-org-name"

# List of repository names to transfer
REPOS=(
  "GithubRepo1"
  "GithubRepo2"
)

# Counters to track results across all repos
SUCCESS=0
FAILED=0

for REPO in "${REPOS[@]}"; do
  echo "=============================="
  echo "Processing $REPO..."

  # Skip if the repo already exists in the target org to avoid overwriting it
  if gh repo view "$TARGET_ORG/$REPO" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "⚠️  $REPO already exists in target, skipping..."
    continue
  fi

  # Create a new private repo in the target org before pushing content into it
  if ! gh repo create "$TARGET_ORG/$REPO" --private --confirm; then
    echo "❌ Failed to create repo $REPO"
    ((FAILED++))
    continue
  fi

  # Mirror-clone fetches all refs (branches, tags, etc.) without a working tree
  if ! git clone --mirror "https://github.com/$SOURCE_ORG/$REPO.git"; then
    echo "❌ Failed to clone $REPO"
    ((FAILED++))
    continue
  fi

  # Enter the bare mirror directory to run the push
  cd "$REPO.git" || continue

  # Push all refs to the target; --mirror overwrites everything in the destination
  if git push --mirror "https://github.com/$TARGET_ORG/$REPO.git"; then
    echo "✅ $REPO copied successfully"
    ((SUCCESS++))
  else
    echo "❌ Failed to push $REPO"
    ((FAILED++))
  fi

  # Return to the parent directory and clean up the temporary mirror clone
  cd ..
  rm -rf "$REPO.git"
done

# Print a final summary of how many repos succeeded or failed
echo "=============================="
echo "🎉 Done!"
echo "✅ Success: $SUCCESS"
echo "❌ Failed:  $FAILED"

Configuration

There are only three things to update before running the script. Source and target organisations:

bash
SOURCE_ORG="source-org-name"
TARGET_ORG="target-org-name"

List of repositories to transfer:

bash
REPOS=(
  "GithubRepo1"
  "GithubRepo2"
)

Add as many repository names as needed. Each one is processed in sequence. By default, all created repos are set to private — change --private to --public in the gh repo create line if you need them public.

How it works

For each repository in the list, the script:

• Checks if the repo already exists in the target org — if it does, it skips it automatically to avoid overwriting anything
• Creates a new private repo in the target organisation using the GitHub CLI
• Mirror-clones the source repo — this captures all branches, tags, and refs without creating a working directory
• Pushes everything to the newly created target repo using git push --mirror
• Cleans up the temporary local mirror clone after a successful push

At the end of the run, a summary shows exactly how many repos were transferred successfully and how many failed.

What gets transferred and what doesn't

• Transferred: all branches, all tags, full git history, all refs
• Not transferred: issues, pull requests, wikis, GitHub Actions secrets

This script performs a git-level mirror — it's a complete copy of the repository's version history, but GitHub-specific metadata lives outside git and cannot be moved this way.

Sample output

text
==============================
Processing GithubRepo1...
✅ GithubRepo1 copied successfully
==============================
Processing GithubRepo2...
⚠️  GithubRepo2 already exists in target, skipping...
==============================
🎉 Done!
✅ Success: 1
❌ Failed:  0

Prerequisites

• GitHub CLI installed and authenticated (gh auth login)
• git installed on your machine
• The authenticated GitHub user must have read access to each repository in SOURCE_ORG and permission to create repositories in TARGET_ORG

Conclusion

What would otherwise mean repeating the same clone-and-push steps across every repository is reduced to editing a list and running one command. The script handles existence checks, error tracking, and cleanup automatically — giving you a clean summary at the end of every run.