try to avoid touching existing repos. Also check that if the directory exists, it is a git repo. Ensure all git commands are logged. Add -usessh command, which triggers using ssh approach to access the archive. If arg1 is not a url, only prefix with rds/ if it does not already start with that. If arg1 is not a url, only append. git if it does not already have file type.
Add .gitignore.