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Shallow Clone - CI/CD Glossary Definition

A shallow clone (git clone --depth 1) fetches only recent history up to a set depth instead of the full commit graph, cutting clone time and disk use. It is the CI default for most checkouts.

A shallow clone (git clone --depth 1) fetches only recent history up to a set depth instead of the full commit graph, cutting clone time and disk use. It is the CI default for most checkouts.

A shallow clone (git clone --depth 1) fetches only recent history up to a set depth instead of the full commit graph, cutting clone time and disk use. It is the CI default for most checkouts.

In CI

actions/checkout uses fetch-depth: 1 by default. Set fetch-depth: 0 when a step needs full history, for example tools that diff against a base branch or compute a version from tags.

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