Migrate from TFVC to Git

Team Foundation Server (TFS), renamed Azure DevOps Server in 2019, is a set of tools developed by Microsoft which also includes Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC), a centralized version control system similar to Git.

In this document, we focus on the TFVC to Git migration.

TFVC vs Git

The main differences between TFVC and Git are:

• Git is distributed: While TFVC is centralized using a client-server architecture, Git is distributed. This translates to Git having a more flexible workflow because you work with a copy of the entire repository. This allows you to quickly switch branches or merge, for example, without needing to communicate with a remote server.
• Storage: Changes in a centralized version control system are per file (changeset), while in Git a committed file is stored in its entirety (snapshot). That means that it is very easy to revert or undo a whole change in Git.

For more information, see:

• The Microsoft comparison of Git and TFVC.
• The Wikipedia comparison of version control software.

Why migrate

Advantages of migrating to Git/GitLab:

• No licensing costs: Git is open source, while TFVC is proprietary.
• Shorter learning curve: Git has a big community and a vast number of tutorials to get you started (see our Git topic).
• Integration with modern tools: After migrating to Git and GitLab, you have an open source, end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more.

How to migrate

Migration options from TFVC to Git depend on your operating system.

• If you’re migrating on Microsoft Windows, use the git-tfs tool. See Migrate TFS to Git for details.
• If you’re on a Unix-based system, follow the procedures described with this TFVC to Git migration tool.