A reference stored on the local repository

• Local Repository
• Reference
• Refspec
• Remote Reference

It's with a heavy heart that I have to point out that Local References and Remote References are defined by Git documentation to be the same thing.

Pro Git, Chapter 3.5 makes it very clear that remote-tracking branches are local references:

Remote-tracking branches are references to the state of remote branches. they're local references that you can't move.

It doesn't get much clearer than that.

In my glossary, you'll see the second definition of remote reference states that a remote reference can be a reference stored in a local repository that points to a Git object on an external repository. That definition comes from Pro Git, Chapter 10.3, and you can read my explanation in full in the detailed version of remote reference.

This means "local reference" and "remote reference" are the same when a reference on a local repository points to a Git object on an external repository.

The term "local reference" is never explicitly defined in Git documentation, but on rare occasion, it is used. It can be found being used to describe remote-tracking branches in Pro Git, and then helping to describe refspecs in Pro Git, Chapter 10.5 and in the Git glossary.