git clone of a private repo hangs

07 Oct, 2026 • 73 words • 1 min

Problem statement: git clone {repo} hangs. How to troubleshoot?

Assumption: we’re cloning via SSH, not via HTTPS.

First, ensure the proper SSH key is being used:

     shell
     
% ssh -vT {repo}

If that’s not the case, you’ll need to modify ~/.ssh/config accordingly (out of scope of this post).

Next up, run:

     shell
     
GIT_TRACE=1 git clone -v {repo}

It will emit logs during the clone. If there’s an error, the answer will be there. ∎

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