Fix Git "Dubious Ownership" Error in SitecoreAI Development Setup: For Multi-Repo Developers

This security fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository error is particularly common in development environments where developers work with multiple code repositories with multiple id’s simultaneously and Git detects mismatched ownership.

fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at 'C:/xmcloud-starter-js'
'C:/xmcloud-starter-js/.git' is owned by: 'x-x-x-xx-xxx'
but the current user is: 'x-x-x-xx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx'

Git’s dubious ownership warning is a critical security feature that ensures directory ownership is verified to prevent unauthorized access. This issue occurs when the current user differs from the directory owner, which is essential in environments where you are working with different Git Repositories of SitecoreAI and other Sitecore application repositories. Common scenarios include:

• Switching between repositories.
• Working on multiple microservices or headless repositories (e.g., SitecoreAI, specialized AI service repos).
• Working with your personal repositories alongside enterprise repositories.
• You use different credentials or user contexts to clone and work with repositories from various platforms (GitHub, Azure DevOps, GitLab).
• The local directory ownership (e.g., your Windows user SID) differs from the user who originally cloned the repository (e.g., running commands as an Administrator).

🛡 Step 1: Mark Your SitecoreAI Application Directory as Safe

To allow Git operations for your SitecoreAI repo (for example, C:/xmcloud-starter-js), run the following command in Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Git Bash:

  git config --global --add safe.directory C:/xmcloud-starter-js

👤 Step 2: Set Correct Git User for Your SitecoreAI Commits

After marking the directory as safe, configure Git so that your commits in SitecoreAI and Sitecore implementation repositories use the correct developer identity. Run:

  git config user.name "AmitKumar-AK"
  git config user.email "dev@contoso.com"

Next, update the remote URL to point to the correct GitHub repository and user:

🔗 Update Remote Repository URL

  git remote set-url origin https://AmitKumar-AK@github.com/AmitKumar-AK/xmcloud-starter-js.git

Before continuing development or committing Sitecore templates, renderings, or SitecoreAI-related code, verify the configuration:

    git config --get user.name
    git config --get user.email
    git remote -v

Check that:

• user.name is your intended Sitecore developer identity, which you configured in Step 2 .
• user.email is your intended Sitecore developer email address, which you configured in Step 2 .
• The remote URL points to the correct SitecoreAI repository, which you configured in Step 2 .

• Use one Git identity per organization
• Verify git config --list before committing any changes
• Avoid running Git commands as admin unless required
• Separate personal and enterprise repos

The Git detected dubious ownership error is a security feature, not a blocker.

For SitecoreAI development teams, the fix is simple:

1. Mark the repository as safe
2. Configure the correct Git user and remote URL

This ensures secure, traceable, and compliant development across SitecoreAI, and multi-repository environments.