How to get Git to clone into current directory

simply put a dot next to it

git clone [email protected]:user/my-project.git .

From git help clone:

Cloning into an existing directory is only allowed if the directory is empty.

So make sure the directory is empty (check with ls -a), otherwise the command will fail.

@Andrew has answered it clearly here. But as simple as this also works even if the directory is not empty:

git init .
git remote add origin <repository-url>
git pull origin master

The following is probably not fully equivalent to a clone in all cases but did the trick for me:

git init .
git remote add -t \* -f origin <repository-url>
git checkout master

In my case, this produces a .git/config file which is equivalent to the one I get when doing a clone.