Git src refspec master does not match any error message

The Problem

When attempting to push commits to a remote branch with Git, you get the following error messages:

error: src refspec master does not match any.
error: failed to push some refs to '<REMOTE_URL>'

The Solution

This error message usually indicates that the branch you’re attempting to push does not exist. This could happen if you neglect to create an initial commit on a given branch, after you change the name of a branch, or if you misspell the branch name.

To resolve the issue, first check the push command. For example, if you’ve changed the primary branch name from master to main, running git push origin master will produce this error message, and you should run git push origin main instead.

If you’re trying to push a branch that hasn’t been created yet, you should create it first.

git checkout -b my-new-branch
git add .
git commit -m "New branch"
git push -u origin my-new-branch

If your branch contains no commits (check this by seeing whether git log produces an error message), create a commit before you can push.

git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push -u origin main

Further Reading

If you’re looking to get a deeper understanding of how application monitoring works, take a look at the following articles:

• Releases Are Better With Commits
• Application Performance Monitoring Explained
• 11 Habits of Highly Effective Developers
• Error Monitoring