# How to Mirror Two GitHub Repositories Controlled by You

By [Florian Martens](https://pipe0.com/authors/florian-martens) · Published Apr 6, 2025

Source: https://pipe0.com/blog/mirror-github-repositories

> Mirroring a GitHub repository can be a helpful trick.



Mirroring a GitHub repository can be a helpful trick for:

💾 Backups and redundancy <br />
🧠 Control without maintenance <br />
🎉 Getting around the need for pro plans with some providers (e.g. Vercel) <br />

## GitHub Action [#github-action]

Several solutions exist but they almost always assume that you want to mirror a GitHub repository that you
do not control. As such, they often involve running cron jobs to check the source repo for updates.

This is not necessary if you're able to create a GitHub action within the source repository.

Here are the steps you need to perform to mirror two repositories that you control:

In this example, I assume you want to mirror an organization repository (source) to a private
repository in your account (target).

<div className="fd-steps">
  <div className="fd-step">
    #### Create a Personal Access Token (PAT) [#1-create-a-personal-access-token-pat]

    * Go to your GitHub account settings
    * Navigate to Developer settings > Personal access tokens
    * Create a fine-grained token
    * Give read and write permission for repository content
    * Give access to the target repository
    * Copy the generated token
  </div>

  <div className="fd-step">
    #### Add the Token as a Secret in Your Organization Repository [#2-add-the-token-as-a-secret-in-your-organization-repository]

    * Go to your organization repository settings
    * Click on "Secrets and variables" > "Actions"
    * Click "New repository secret"
    * Name: PERSONAL\_ACCESS\_TOKEN
    * Value: Paste the token you copied
    * "Add secret"
  </div>

  <div className="fd-step">
    #### Allow GitHub Actions in the Target Repository [#3-allow-github-actions-in-the-target-repository]

    * Go to the target repository
    * Go to "settings" > "Actions" > "General"
    * Scroll to "Workflow permissions"
    * Select "Read and write permissions"

    In the source repo add the following GitHub action file in `.github/workflows/mirror.yaml`:

    Replace yourusername/private-repo.git with your actual private repository path

    ```yaml
    name: Mirror Repository

    on:
      push:
        branches: [main]
      workflow_dispatch: # Allows manual triggering of the workflow

    jobs:
      mirror:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
        permissions:
          contents: write
        steps:
          - name: Checkout repository
            uses: actions/checkout@v4
            with:
              fetch-depth: 0 # Fetch all history for all branches and tags
              token: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

          - name: Push to private mirror
            run: |
              git remote add private https://github.com/yourusername/private-repo.git
              git push private --force --all
              git push private --force --tags

    ```

    Lastly, change to the source repository and watch it being applied to the target as well.
  </div>
</div>