Checking out a remote branch results in detached HEAD instead of creating local branch

[kleinpetr]

Hi,
when I fetch a remote repository and try to check out one of the remote branches (e.g. origin/develop), Zed puts me into a detached HEAD state.

In other editors like VS Code, checking out a remote branch automatically creates a local branch that tracks the remote one (which I believe is equivalent to running git switch -c develop origin/develop under the hood). That way, I can work on the branch right away without manually creating and checking it out.

In Zed, I need to manually create the branch with git switch -c feature origin/feature or similar to avoid the detached state, which breaks the flow a bit.

It would be great if Zed could offer an option (or default behavior) to automatically create a local tracking branch when checking out a remote one.

Thanks!

[lnay]

I vote for "option" instead of "default"

[francesco086]

I may be wrong, but isn't VSCode simply listing the remote (origin) branches, and only if you select them then check them out on a local branch?

What I see in Zed is that if I click on the branches, the local branches are shown, but if I want a remote branch I need to start typing its name, and then it appears the origin/feature-branch in the list. This is actually what I am missing, showing the remote branches to select without having to start typing.

@kleinpetr could you perhaps check if it works for you as well? Try to type "origin" and see if it shows you the remote branches.

The automatically shown branches:

If I type origin: