Could Not Resolve Host github.com: What It Means and How to Fix It

If you've ever run a git clone, git pull, or git push command and hit back the error "could not resolve host: github.com", you're dealing with a DNS or network connectivity problem — not a GitHub outage, and not a broken Git installation. Understanding what's actually failing makes the fix much easier to find.

What "Could Not Resolve Host" Actually Means

When Git tries to connect to github.com, it first needs to translate that human-readable domain name into an IP address. That translation is handled by the Domain Name System (DNS). "Could not resolve host" means the DNS lookup failed — your machine asked "what's the IP address for github.com?" and got no usable answer back.

The error looks something like this:

This is a network-layer problem, sitting below Git itself. Git is working fine. The issue is between your machine and DNS resolution.

Common Causes of the Error

Several different conditions can produce the same error message, which is why the fix isn't always the same.

🔌 No Active Internet Connection

The most obvious cause. If your machine is offline or only partially connected (connected to a router but not the internet), DNS queries fail entirely. Check with a browser first — if websites aren't loading, start there.

DNS Server Problems

Your machine is configured to use a specific DNS server — usually assigned automatically by your router or ISP. If that server is:

• Temporarily unreachable
• Returning incorrect results
• Blocking certain domains (common on corporate or school networks)

…then the resolution fails even with a working internet connection.

Proxy and Firewall Interference

Corporate environments frequently route traffic through HTTP/HTTPS proxies. If Git isn't configured to use the same proxy your browser uses, Git's requests go nowhere. Similarly, overly aggressive firewalls can silently block DNS queries or HTTPS traffic to specific hosts.

Git Proxy Misconfiguration

Sometimes the problem is the opposite: Git is configured to use a proxy — one that no longer exists, has changed addresses, or isn't running. A stale proxy setting in your Git config will cause this error on a network where no proxy is needed.

Check your Git proxy config with: