diff --git a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-docs/src/main/asciidoc/administration-guide.adoc b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-docs/src/main/asciidoc/administration-guide.adoc
index 90b80d5..a9470b4 100644
--- a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-docs/src/main/asciidoc/administration-guide.adoc
+++ b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-docs/src/main/asciidoc/administration-guide.adoc
@@ -1315,11 +1315,13 @@
 link:https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec[https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec^]).
 |`Remote Access User`|This username is used to make push requests to the remote repository when `Remote To Push` is enabled, and the remote repository is accessed by HTTP protocol. If SSH is used, user authentication is done with SSH keys.
 |`Remote Access Password`|The password for the `Remote Access User`.
+|`Remote Clone Repository`|Remote repository URI to use to clone into `Flow Storage Directory`, if local repository is not present in `Flow Storage Directory`. If left empty the git directory needs to be configured as per <<Initialize Git directory>>. If URI is provided then `Remote Access User` and `Remote Access Password` also should be present.
+Currently, default branch of remote will be cloned.
 |====
 
 ===== Initialize Git directory
 
-In order to use `GitFlowPersistenceRepository`, you need to prepare a Git directory on the local file system. You can do so by initializing a directory with `git init` command, or clone an existing Git project from a remote Git repository by `git clone` command.
+In order to use `GitFlowPersistenceRepository`, you need to prepare a Git directory on the local file system. You can do so by initializing a directory with `git init` command, or clone an existing Git project from a remote Git repository by `git clone` command. If you want to clone the default branch of remote repository automatically, set the `Remote Clone Repository` as described above.
 
 - `git init` command
 link:https://git-scm.com/docs/git-init[https://git-scm.com/docs/git-init^]
diff --git a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowMetaData.java b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowMetaData.java
index c5ee277..6a972af 100644
--- a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowMetaData.java
+++ b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowMetaData.java
@@ -18,12 +18,15 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.concurrent.BasicThreadFactory;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.Git;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.LsRemoteCommand;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.PushCommand;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.Status;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.GitAPIException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.NoHeadException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.RepositoryCache;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevCommit;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevTree;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.FileRepositoryBuilder;
@@ -32,6 +35,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RemoteConfig;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.UsernamePasswordCredentialsProvider;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.treewalk.TreeWalk;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
@@ -131,6 +135,78 @@
         return builder.build();
     }
 
+    private static boolean hasAtLeastOneReference(Repository repo) {
+        logger.info("Checking references for repository {}", repo.toString());
+        for (Ref ref : repo.getAllRefs().values()) {
+            if (ref.getObjectId() == null) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check if the provided local repository exists or not, provided by the 'Flow Storage Directory'
+     * configuration in the providers.xml.
+     * @param localRepo  {@link File} object of the 'Flow Storage Directory' configuration
+     * @return true if the local repository exists, false otherwise
+     * @throws IOException if the .git directory of the local repository cannot be opened
+     */
+    public boolean localRepoExists(File localRepo) throws IOException {
+        if (!localRepo.isDirectory()) {
+            logger.info("{} is not a directory or does not exist.", localRepo.getPath());
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (RepositoryCache.FileKey.isGitRepository(new File(localRepo.getPath()+"/.git"), FS.DETECTED)) {
+            final Git git = Git.open(new File(localRepo.getPath() + "/.git"));
+            final Repository repository = git.getRepository();
+            logger.info("Checking for git references in {}", localRepo.getPath());
+            final boolean referenceExists = hasAtLeastOneReference(repository);
+            if (referenceExists) {
+                logger.info("{} local repository exists with references so no need to clone remote", localRepo.getPath());
+            }
+            // Can be an empty repository if no references are present should we pull from remote?
+            return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Validate if the provided 'Remote Clone Repository' configuration in the providers.xml exists or not.
+     * If the remote repository does not exist, an {@link IllegalArgumentException} will be thrown.
+     * @param remoteRepository the URI value of the 'Remote Clone Repository' configuration
+     * @throws IOException if creating the repository fails
+     */
+    public void remoteRepoExists(String remoteRepository) throws IOException {
+        final Git git = new Git(FileRepositoryBuilder.create(new File(remoteRepository)));
+        final LsRemoteCommand lsCmd = git.lsRemote();
+        try {
+            lsCmd.setRemote(remoteRepository);
+            lsCmd.setCredentialsProvider(this.credentialsProvider);
+            lsCmd.call();
+        } catch (Exception e){
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("InvalidRemoteRepository : Given remote repository is not valid");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * If validation of remote clone repository throws no exception then clone the repository given
+     * in the 'Remote Clone Repository' configuration. Currently the default branch of remote will be cloned.
+     * @param localRepo {@link File} object of the 'Flow Storage Directory' configuration
+     * @param remoteRepository the URI value of the 'Remote Clone Repository' configuration
+     * @throws GitAPIException if unable to call the remote repository
+     */
+    public void cloneRepository(File localRepo, String remoteRepository) throws GitAPIException {
+        logger.info("Cloning the repository {} in {}", remoteRepository, localRepo.getPath());
+        Git.cloneRepository()
+                .setURI(remoteRepository)
+                .setCredentialsProvider(this.credentialsProvider)
+                .setDirectory(localRepo)
+                .call();
+    }
+
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public void loadGitRepository(File gitProjectRootDir) throws IOException, GitAPIException {
         gitRepo = openRepository(gitProjectRootDir);
diff --git a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowPersistenceProvider.java b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowPersistenceProvider.java
index 08fa467..d511f87 100644
--- a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowPersistenceProvider.java
+++ b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/registry/provider/flow/git/GitFlowPersistenceProvider.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
     private static final String REMOTE_TO_PUSH = "Remote To Push";
     private static final String REMOTE_ACCESS_USER = "Remote Access User";
     private static final String REMOTE_ACCESS_PASSWORD = "Remote Access Password";
+    private static final String REMOTE_CLONE_REPOSITORY = "Remote Clone Repository";
     static final String SNAPSHOT_EXTENSION = ".snapshot";
 
     private File flowStorageDir;
@@ -73,6 +74,13 @@
 
         final String remoteUser = props.get(REMOTE_ACCESS_USER);
         final String remotePassword = props.get(REMOTE_ACCESS_PASSWORD);
+        final String remoteRepo = props.get(REMOTE_CLONE_REPOSITORY);
+        if (!isEmpty(remoteRepo)) {
+            if (isEmpty(remoteUser) || isEmpty(remotePassword)) {
+                throw new ProviderCreationException(format("The property %s needs remote username and remote password",
+                        REMOTE_CLONE_REPOSITORY));
+            }
+        }
         if (!isEmpty(remoteUser) && isEmpty(remotePassword)) {
             throw new ProviderCreationException(format("The property %s is specified but %s is not." +
                     " %s is required for username password authentication.",
@@ -84,6 +92,11 @@
 
         try {
             flowStorageDir = new File(flowStorageDirValue);
+            final boolean localRepoExists = flowMetaData.localRepoExists(flowStorageDir);
+            if (remoteRepo != null && !remoteRepo.isEmpty() && !localRepoExists){
+                flowMetaData.remoteRepoExists(remoteRepo);
+                flowMetaData.cloneRepository(flowStorageDir, remoteRepo);
+            }
             flowMetaData.loadGitRepository(flowStorageDir);
             flowMetaData.startPushThread();
             logger.info("Configured GitFlowPersistenceProvider with Flow Storage Directory {}",
diff --git a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-resources/src/main/resources/conf/providers.xml b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-resources/src/main/resources/conf/providers.xml
index 3eb138f..70169b5 100644
--- a/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-resources/src/main/resources/conf/providers.xml
+++ b/nifi-registry-core/nifi-registry-resources/src/main/resources/conf/providers.xml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
         <property name="Remote To Push"></property>
         <property name="Remote Access User"></property>
         <property name="Remote Access Password"></property>
+        <property name="Remote Clone Repository"></property>
     </flowPersistenceProvider>
     -->