http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4855561/difference-between-git-remote-add-and-git-clone
git remote add just creates an entry in your git config that specifies a name for a particular URL. You must have an existing git repo to use this. git clone creates a new git repository by copying an existing one located at the URI you specify.
These are functionally similar (try it!): # git clone REMOTEURL foo and: # mkdir foo # cd foo # git init # git remote add origin REMOTEURL # git pull origin master Now there are minor differences, but fundamentally you probably won't notice them. As an exercise left to the reader, compare the .git/config's from each directory.