pull

basicwidespread

Pull is the operation by which you download the latest changes made by others from the shared repository and merge them into the copy on your own machine.

In plain terms

Imagine several people writing a shared cookbook, each with their own copy at home. Before you start work, you request from the central copy everything the others have written in it since, and paste it into yours. This is a pull: you 'pull down' the updates.

In software development, code lives in a shared repository, typically with a service like GitHub or GitLab. Everyone works on a copy on their own machine, and a pull updates this copy.

Pull is the counterpart to push, with which you upload your own changes to the shared repository. Together they create the rhythm of teamwork: first you pull what others have done, then you upload your own.

Coding agents run the same command: before an agent starts a task, it should ideally pull the latest state to avoid working on outdated code.

How it works

You issue the command (in the Git version control system: git pull) or press the "Pull" button in your development tool.
Your machine asks the remote storage what has changed since your last update and downloads the new changes (this part is independently called fetch).
Git merges the downloaded changes into your local work (depending on settings, it can also rebase). If you have also committed your own changes in the meantime and no method is set, newer Git versions will pause and require you to choose.
If you and someone else rewrite the same line differently, a conflict arises, and you or the agent must decide which version remains.
If everything is in order, your local copy already contains others' work and your own.

An everyday example

In the morning, you sit at your computer and ask the coding agent to fix a bug on the company website. The agent first runs a pull. This is useful because your colleague rewrote and uploaded the same file the previous evening. Thus, the fix applies to the latest version, not yesterday's.

Who is affected

developerThey use it several times a day, because it keeps their own work in sync with the team's. → Code

entrepreneur, executiveIf you have developers or coding agents working for you, this word explains why work needs to be regularly aligned with the shared state.

parent, student, teacherAnyone learning to program will surely encounter it during their first teamwork or school project. → Education & Family

employeeAnyone who uses an AI agent for code or document repositories without being a programmer also needs to see when the agent is working from fresh material and when from outdated material. → Work & HR

A common misconception

MythPull and pull request are the same, only one is shorter.

In realityA pull downloads and merges changes into your local machine. A pull request, by contrast, is a request to others to review and accept your changes into the shared code (on GitLab, this is called a merge request).

Limits and risks

If you have uncommitted changes and the pull would affect the same files, Git will refuse the operation. First commit or stash your own work.
The program cannot always resolve conflicts on its own; in such cases a human decision is needed on which version is correct.
Pull brings down what is in the shared repository, including faulty or malicious code, so it does not check content quality.
If an agent runs a pull independently, it is worth checking what changed afterward, as the updated code may alter the task conditions.

Similar, but not the same

pull request – This is not a download, but a request to review and merge your own changes (a pull request).
fetch – Fetch only downloads the changes but does not merge them into your work, while pull does both.
clone – A clone is a one-time, full copy of the repository to your machine, while a pull is the regular update of an existing copy.

Related concepts

Broader

version control, Git

Narrower

fetch, merge, rebase

On the edge

push, clone, commit, pull request, repository

A brief history

The modern meaning of "pull" spread with the Git version control system, which Linus Torvalds created in 2005 for developing the Linux kernel. The word itself existed in earlier version control systems. It describes the operation: you "pull" remote changes to yourself.

Where things stand

By the end of 2026, pull is a daily basic operation in software development, and Git is the most widely used version control system. Coding agents also often run it before work, but not always automatically, so it is worth checking whether they are working from an up-to-date state.

Status: 2026 November

In the news

Appears in 43 Agent Age stories; the curve shows weekly occurrence in the news magazine.

Investors pile into battery deals amid AI pullback as nickel-zinc storage moves into server racksNov 5, 2026 · Ipar
Copilot Cowork generated 1,211 pull requests in a single dayNov 2, 2026 · Code
Some AI-attributed layoffs are being reversed as companies recall workersOct 29, 2026 · Work & HR
GitHub adds prompt-injection scanning to AI agent pull requestsOct 28, 2026 · Code
GitHub launches Copilot Fusion, which picks and routes models for each taskOct 26, 2026 · Code
Jellyfish: agents touch 27.7% of pull requests, while "software factories" remain rareOct 26, 2026 · Code
Copilot gains Agent Merge, Automations and agents in Dev Containers with VS Code 1.137Oct 26, 2026 · Code
Greptile: DIY AI code reviewer costs $3 to $25 per pull request and still misses the key bugOct 26, 2026 · Code

Also known as

pull · git pull · pull-down · pulling · pullol · indentation · pull from the remote repository

Sources

This entry was machine-edited and has undergone machine expert review; the “In the news” section updates automatically from Agent Age stories.