Q&A

How is this different from a fresh git clone?

A clone from a remote downloads the history again and gives you a checkout with nothing built in it. This copies the local directory, including everything git does not track, and pays for neither the download nor the build.

A clone from a remote downloads the history again and gives you a checkout with nothing built in it. This copies the local directory, including everything git does not track, and pays for neither the download nor the build.

Does it need GitHub, or a remote at all?

`new` runs `git fetch` before it resolves the default base, so a repository with no remote needs an explicit base, such as `gitto new auth-fix HEAD`. Nothing else in the tool reaches the network.

Caveats

What it cannot see, and what a copy cannot carry.