Distinguish a bare repository from a working checkout.

Git: rev-parse reports repository mode without relying on directory naming conventions.

set -euo pipefail
git rev-parse --is-bare-repository
git --git-dir=remote.git rev-parse --is-bare-repository

Expected output EXAMPLE

false
true

Details

Requires Git and Bash. Run in a disposable practice repository. The test setup below creates the starting files and commits. rev-parse reports repository mode without relying on directory naming conventions. The input setup creates a disposable practice repository with a fictional local author identity. Run these examples only in that repository.

✓ Verified

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · 2026-11-02 18:26:54 UTC · git version 2.43.0 · git 1:2.43.0-1ubuntu7.3

Test inputs, results and environment

The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Snippet process uid 65534 with a read-only root filesystem and temporary working files. Networking disabled. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.

Architecture / host kernel: x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Snippet identity / locale: uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged process) / C.UTF-8
Interpreter invocation: bash -euo pipefail -c <published code>
Container image ID: sha256:ec91410a8f6ec3e985830b5e3a0560306d36f8c1c5ccd91a6699abe707123fa3
Code SHA-256: c28ef04e5ec30c9125a9062ef8409177a7ccd199f4e3d381aefad1185943dabd
Dependencies: git 1:2.43.0-1ubuntu7.3

Test input setup

These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.

git init -q -b main
git config user.name 'Example Developer'
git config user.email 'developer@example.invalid'
git config commit.gpgsign false
git config tag.gpgsign false
git config color.ui false
printf 'first
' > note.txt
git add note.txt
git commit -qm 'Initial notes'
git init -q --bare --initial-branch=main remote.git
git remote add origin ./remote.git
git push -q -u origin main

Observed standard output

false
true

Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.