Cloning creates a local working repository from a remote history. The destination directory and origin relationship are part of the result, not just the copied files. In this simulator, a prepared mock remote supplies the history and no network call occurs. Inspect the new repository's current branch and files before editing. Copying a directory alone would miss remote tracking metadata and is not the same operation. The setup notes make the source and destination explicit. The new checkout should have its own root and an upstream such as origin/main. A directory with identical visible files can still be the wrong working context if the original repository model remains active.