How to Remove a Submodule in Git

Removing a submodule is useful when it is no longer required. The steps¹ below outline the removal of a submodule:

• Delete the section referring to the submodule from the .gitmodules file
• Stage the changes via git add .gitmodules
• Delete the relevant section of the submodule from .git/config.
• Run git rm --cached path_to_submodule (no trailing slash)
• Run rm -rf .git/modules/path_to_submodule
• Commit the changes with git commit -m "Removed submodule <name>"
• Delete the now untracked submodule files rm -rf path_to_submodule