🚀 How to Push Unreal Engine Files to Github with Git CMD

The key is to configure Git LFS before you add any large files to your repository . You can do this entirely from your Git CMD terminal.

1. Install and Configure Git LFS

First, ensure Git LFS is installed. The good news is that Git LFS is included in the standard Git for Windows distribution .

1. Open Git CMD.

2. Navigate to your UE5 project folder.

3. You also check to see if Git LFS is installed when you open your Git CMD and run this command

git lfs install

 If it runs without an error (e.g., "Git LFS initialized"): Great, you have Git LFS! You can move to the next step.

• If it gives an error like "git: 'lfs' is not a git command": It's not included with your Git installation. You will then need to install it separately. You can download the installer from the Git LFS website.

2. Navigate to Your Project Folder

Open Git CMD and navigate to your project directory:

bash

cd /d E:\Stuff\Unreal\DemoProject

3. Set Up Git LFS for UE5 File Types

Run this command to tell Git LFS which file types to manage:

bash

git lfs track "*.uasset" "*.umap" "*.fbx" "*.png" "*.wav" "*.mp4" "*.psd"

This will create a .gitattributes file. This is the most important step – without it, your large asset files will hit GitHub's 100 MB limit and the push will fail.

If you get the error “Not in a Git repository” it means Git hasn't been initialized in your project folder yet. Git LFS commands like git lfs track need to be run inside a Git repository, so you need to run git init first.

Fix: Initialize Git in Your Project Folder

Follow these steps in order:

4. Initialize Git Repository

In Git CMD, navigate to your project folder (you're already there) and run:

bash

git init

You should see a message like:

text

Initialized empty Git repository in E:/Stuff/Unreal/DemoProject/.git/

5. Now Run the Git LFS Track Command

Now that Git is initialized, run the Git LFS track command:

bash

git lfs track "*.uasset" "*.umap" "*.fbx" "*.png" "*.wav" "*.mp4" "*.psd"

You should see output like:

text

Tracking "*.uasset"

Tracking "*.umap"

Tracking "*.fbx"

Tracking "*.png"

Tracking "*.wav"

Tracking "*.mp4"

Tracking "*.psd"

This creates/updates the .gitattributes file.

6. Verify Git LFS Tracking

Check that the file types are being tracked:

bash

git lfs track

You should see a list of the patterns you just added.

7. Create .gitignore File

Create a .gitignore file in your E:\Stuff\Unreal\DemoProject folder with the UE5-specific ignore patterns I provided earlier. You can create this in Notepad or any text editor.

Copy and paste this content:

text

Binaries/

Intermediate/

Saved/

DerivedDataCache/

.vs/

*.sln

*.suo

*.opensdf

*.sdf

*.VC.db

*.VC.opendb

*.xcodeproj

*.xcworkspace

Launch/

.ipch/

.idea/

*.swp

*.tmp

*.temp

*.log

*.pdb

*.pdb.meta

*.exp

*.lib

*.ilk

*.obj

*.pch

*.dll

*.dylib

*.so

*.pdb

*.exe

*.app

*.pyc

*.pyo

*.pidb

*.user

*.userprefs

*.sln.docstates

*.sln.ide

Build/

*.vsconfig

*.vsindex

*.vsp

*.vsmdi

*.testsettings

*.dbmdl

*.css.map

*.js.map

*.min.js

*.min.css

8. Commit the Config Files First

bash

git add .gitattributes .gitignore

git commit -m "Initial commit: Set up Git LFS and .gitignore"

If you get E:\Stuff\Unreal\DemoProject>git add .gitattributes .gitignore fatal: pathspec '.gitignore' did not match any files

This error means the .gitignore file doesn't exist in your project folder yet. You need to create it first. It is possible that the file is listed as a "Text Document" with the extension .gitignore — which is correct. But Git might still not recognize it if it has a .txt extension. Verify and fix if needed.

9. Verify the File Extension

In your Git CMD, run:

bash

dir

Look for .gitignore in the list. If you see:

• .gitignore — Perfect, you're good to go!

• .gitignore.txt — You need to rename it.

10. Rename the File

Run this command in Git CMD:

bash

ren .gitignore.txt .gitignore

Now verify it worked:

bash

dir

You should now see .gitignore (without the .txt extension).

11. Now Run the Git Commands

bash

git add .gitattributes .gitignore

bash

git commit -m "Initial commit: Set up Git LFS and .gitignore"

If you get the error

Author identity unknown *** Please tell me who you are.

The error is resulting because Git needs to know who you are to label your commits. Here's how to fix it.

12. Set Your Git User Identity

In Git CMD, type these two commands (replace with your actual name and email):

bash

git config --global user.name "Your Name"

bash

git config --global user.email "your-email@example.com"

For example:

bash

git config --global user.name "Don Charles"

bash

git config --global user.email "don@impulseresponseenterprises.cc"

13. Verify It's Set Correctly

bash

git config --global user.name

You should see the name you put in.

bash

git config --global user.email

You should see the email you put in.

14. Now Rerun the Commit Command

bash

git commit -m "Initial commit: Set up Git LFS and .gitignore"

This should now work. You'll see output like:

text

[main (root-commit) a1b2c3d] Initial commit: Set up Git LFS and .gitignore

 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+)

 create mode 100644 .gitattributes

 create mode 100644 .gitignore

 15. Then Continue with the Rest

bash

git add .

bash

git commit -m "Add Unreal Engine 5 project files"

16. Next Steps to Push to GitHub

Next, you need to go to GitHub. Login, and go to your profile page. Then create a new repository. That is because you need an empty repository on GitHub to push to.

• Click the green "New" button or the "+" icon in the top-right corner and select "New repository".

• Name your repository (for example, DemoProject).

• Important: Do not initialize it with a README, .gitignore, or license, since you already have these locally.

• Click "Create repository".

17. Connect Your Local Repo to GitHub

Once your new, empty repository is created, GitHub will show you a quick setup page. In your Git CMD, run the command to add the remote. Copy the line that looks like this and paste it into your Git CMD:

bash

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourgitaccount/DemoProject.git

(Make sure the repository name matches the one you just created on GitHub)

18. Next Step: Push to GitHub

Run this command in Git CMD:

bash

git push -u origin main

19. What Will Happen Next

Since this is your first time pushing to GitHub from this computer, you'll likely see a browser window pop up asking you to sign in to GitHub.

• Sign in as yourgitaccount

• Click "Authorize" or "Confirm" to allow Git to access your repositories

If get E:\Stuff\Unreal\DemoProject>git push -u origin main error: src refspec main does not match any error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/yourgitaccount/DemoProject.git'

This error means your local branch is named master instead of main. This is a common issue because older versions of Git default to master while GitHub uses main.

20. The Command to Rename Your Local Branch

To address this problem, you need to rename you branch from master to main. In your Git CMD, run:

bash

git branch -m master main

If you want to confirm your current branch name run:

bash

git branch

Note, you would have need to create a repository with the correct name at Step 16 for this to work.

21. After You Create the Repository

Once you've created the empty repository on GitHub, your existing git remote add command is already correct. You can simply run the push command again:

bash

git push -u origin main

If you get E:\Stuff\Unreal\DemoProject>git push -u origin main remote: Permission to yourgitaccount/DemoProject.git denied to impulseresponseenterprisesltd. fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/yourgitaccount/DemoProject.git/': The requested URL returned error: 403

It means you are logged into GitHub as the wrong account. Git is trying to push to yourgitaccount/DemoProject but your stored credentials belong to another account, which doesn't have permission to access that repository.

 22. The Fix: Switch GitHub Accounts

You need to clear the cached credentials and log in as yourgitaccount.

1. Open Windows Credential Manager:

   • Press Windows Key + R, type control, and press Enter

   • Click on "User Accounts" → "Credential Manager"

   • Or search "Credential Manager" in the Start Menu

2. Select "Windows Credentials"

3. Find GitHub credentials:

   • Look for entries like git:https://github.com or https://github.com

   • Click the dropdown arrow next to it

   • Click "Remove" or "Delete"

4. Try pushing again:

bash

git push -u origin main

This time, a browser window will open asking you to log in. Sign in as yourgitaccount (not the other account).

23. Check if the Push Completed

Look at your Git CMD window. The git push -u origin main command should have continued running. You should see output like:

text

Enumerating objects: 150, done.

Counting objects: 100% (150/150), done.

Delta compression using up to 8 threads.

Compressing objects: 100% (120/120), done.

Writing objects: 100% (150/150), 12.34 MiB | 2.34 MiB/s, done.

Total 150 (delta 30), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0

To https://github.com/yourgitaccount/DemoProject.git

 * [new branch]  main -> main

Branch 'main' set up to track remote branch 'main' from 'origin'.

24. Verify the Push on GitHub

1. Go to https://github.com/yourgitaccount/DemoProject

2. Refresh the page

3. You should see all your Unreal Engine project files:

   • DemoProject.uproject

   • Content/ folder

   • Source/ folder

   • Config/ folder

   • .gitattributes (LFS config)

   • .gitignore