Git clone a repository from someone else's computer

May 2026

Your colleague has a git repository on their machine. You want to clone it. The usual way: they push it to GitHub, you clone from GitHub. If the repo is private, they add you as a collaborator, you set up SSH keys, then you clone.

If the repo is not on any remote yet, or if you do not want to push it to a server, there is no obvious way to clone directly from their machine.

Clone from the virtual folder

Connect to the other person with KEIBIDROP and enable the virtual folder. Their shared files appear as a directory on your machine. If they shared a git repository, you can clone it like any local path.

You probably know git clone with a GitHub URL. But git can also clone from any folder on your disk that contains a .git directory. Since the virtual folder looks like a normal directory to your operating system, git treats it like a local path.

# Your colleague's files appear as a folder on your machine
$ ls ~/KeibiDrop/Mount/
my-project/   notes.md   data.csv

# Clone their repo the same way you would from GitHub, but from the local path
$ git clone ~/KeibiDrop/Mount/my-project ~/projects/my-project
Cloning into '/Users/you/projects/my-project'...
done.

$ cd ~/projects/my-project && git log --oneline -3
a1b2c3d  fix: handle edge case in parser
e4f5g6h  feat: add CSV export
i7j8k9l  refactor: split utils into modules

The virtual folder at ~/KeibiDrop/Mount/ shows your colleague's shared files. Git reads the repository objects from there. KEIBIDROP streams each object from their machine as git requests it. The clone goes into your local workspace and you have a full copy with all history.

Why this works

The virtual folder presents the peer's files through the operating system's filesystem interface. Git does not know the files are remote. It reads .git/objects, .git/refs, and .git/HEAD like it would from any local directory. Each read request is served by streaming the data from the peer over an encrypted connection.

When to use this

Pair programming sessions where you want to share a working copy. Repositories that are too sensitive to push to a hosted service. Situations where you need to clone a repo that only exists on someone's laptop. Hackathons, workshops, or conferences where setting up SSH access is too slow.

What about edits?

The virtual folder is bidirectional. If you share a file back, it appears on the peer's side. You can also browse their repo, run the code locally, and pull changes by reconnecting later. For real-time collaborative editing on the same files, use git as the merge layer on your local clones.

Install guide · Source code