diff --git a/cmd/clone.go b/cmd/clone.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7e4e42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/clone.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/cmd/flags"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/config"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/context"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/git"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/interact"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/task"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/utils"
+
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
+)
+
+// CmdRepoClone represents a sub command of repos to create a local copy
+var CmdRepoClone = cli.Command{
+	Name:    "clone",
+	Aliases: []string{"C"},
+	Usage:   "Clone a repository locally",
+	Description: `Clone a repository locally, without a local git installation required.
+The repo slug can be specified in different formats:
+	gitea/tea
+	tea
+	gitea.com/gitea/tea
+	git@gitea.com:gitea/tea
+	https://gitea.com/gitea/tea
+	ssh://gitea.com:22/gitea/tea
+When a host is specified in the repo-slug, it will override the login specified with --login.
+	`,
+	Category:  catHelpers,
+	Action:    runRepoClone,
+	ArgsUsage: "<repo-slug> [target dir]",
+	Flags: []cli.Flag{
+		&cli.IntFlag{
+			Name:    "depth",
+			Aliases: []string{"d"},
+			Usage:   "num commits to fetch, defaults to all",
+		},
+		&flags.LoginFlag,
+	},
+}
+
+func runRepoClone(cmd *cli.Context) error {
+	ctx := context.InitCommand(cmd)
+
+	args := ctx.Args()
+	if args.Len() < 1 {
+		return cli.ShowCommandHelp(cmd, "clone")
+	}
+	dir := args.Get(1)
+
+	var (
+		login *config.Login = ctx.Login
+		owner string        = ctx.Login.User
+		repo  string
+	)
+
+	// parse first arg as repo specifier
+	repoSlug := args.Get(0)
+	url, err := git.ParseURL(repoSlug)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	owner, repo = utils.GetOwnerAndRepo(url.Path, login.User)
+	if url.Host != "" {
+		login = config.GetLoginByHost(url.Host)
+		if login == nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("No login configured matching host '%s', run `tea login add` first", url.Host)
+		}
+	}
+
+	_, err = task.RepoClone(
+		dir,
+		login,
+		owner,
+		repo,
+		interact.PromptPassword,
+		ctx.Int("depth"),
+	)
+
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 52735cf..580cb38 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ func main() {
 
 		&cmd.CmdOpen,
 		&cmd.CmdNotifications,
+		&cmd.CmdRepoClone,
 	}
 	app.EnableBashCompletion = true
 	err := app.Run(os.Args)
diff --git a/modules/config/login.go b/modules/config/login.go
index 47f944c..ddecd2f 100644
--- a/modules/config/login.go
+++ b/modules/config/login.go
@@ -111,6 +111,25 @@ func GetLoginByToken(token string) *Login {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// GetLoginByHost finds a login by it's server URL
+func GetLoginByHost(host string) *Login {
+	err := loadConfig()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	for _, l := range config.Logins {
+		loginURL, err := url.Parse(l.URL)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if loginURL.Host == host {
+			return &l
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // DeleteLogin delete a login by name from config
 func DeleteLogin(name string) error {
 	var idx = -1
diff --git a/modules/git/url.go b/modules/git/url.go
index 5b5a9a5..f76a666 100644
--- a/modules/git/url.go
+++ b/modules/git/url.go
@@ -22,13 +22,18 @@ type URLParser struct {
 func (p *URLParser) Parse(rawURL string) (u *url.URL, err error) {
 	rawURL = strings.TrimSpace(rawURL)
 
-	// convert the weird git ssh url format to a canonical url:
-	// git@gitea.com:gitea/tea -> ssh://git@gitea.com/gitea/tea
-	if !protocolRe.MatchString(rawURL) &&
-		strings.Contains(rawURL, ":") &&
-		// not a Windows path
-		!strings.Contains(rawURL, "\\") {
-		rawURL = "ssh://" + strings.Replace(rawURL, ":", "/", 1)
+	if !protocolRe.MatchString(rawURL) {
+		// convert the weird git ssh url format to a canonical url:
+		// git@gitea.com:gitea/tea -> ssh://git@gitea.com/gitea/tea
+		if strings.Contains(rawURL, ":") &&
+			// not a Windows path
+			!strings.Contains(rawURL, "\\") {
+			rawURL = "ssh://" + strings.Replace(rawURL, ":", "/", 1)
+		} else if !strings.Contains(rawURL, "@") &&
+			strings.Count(rawURL, "/") == 2 {
+			// match cases like gitea.com/gitea/tea
+			rawURL = "https://" + rawURL
+		}
 	}
 
 	u, err = url.Parse(rawURL)
diff --git a/modules/git/url_test.go b/modules/git/url_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f342525
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/git/url_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package git
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestParseUrl(t *testing.T) {
+	u, err := ParseURL("ssh://git@gitea.com:3000/gitea/tea")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "gitea.com:3000", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "ssh", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/gitea/tea", u.Path)
+
+	u, err = ParseURL("https://gitea.com/gitea/tea")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "gitea.com", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "https", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/gitea/tea", u.Path)
+
+	u, err = ParseURL("git@gitea.com:gitea/tea")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "gitea.com", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "ssh", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/gitea/tea", u.Path)
+
+	u, err = ParseURL("gitea.com/gitea/tea")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "gitea.com", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "https", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/gitea/tea", u.Path)
+
+	u, err = ParseURL("foo/bar")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "foo/bar", u.Path)
+
+	u, err = ParseURL("/foo/bar")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "https", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "/foo/bar", u.Path)
+
+	// this case is unintuitive, but to ambiguous to be handled differently
+	u, err = ParseURL("gitea.com")
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "", u.Host)
+	assert.Equal(t, "", u.Scheme)
+	assert.Equal(t, "gitea.com", u.Path)
+}
diff --git a/modules/task/pull_create.go b/modules/task/pull_create.go
index b7505b5..8ed6ec9 100644
--- a/modules/task/pull_create.go
+++ b/modules/task/pull_create.go
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ func GetDefaultPRHead(localRepo *local_git.TeaRepo) (owner, branch string, err e
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	owner, _ = utils.GetOwnerAndRepo(strings.TrimLeft(url.Path, "/"), "")
+	owner, _ = utils.GetOwnerAndRepo(url.Path, "")
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/task/repo_clone.go b/modules/task/repo_clone.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc164fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/task/repo_clone.go
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package task
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"net/url"
+
+	"code.gitea.io/sdk/gitea"
+	"code.gitea.io/tea/modules/config"
+	local_git "code.gitea.io/tea/modules/git"
+
+	"github.com/go-git/go-git/v5"
+	git_config "github.com/go-git/go-git/v5/config"
+	"github.com/go-git/go-git/v5/plumbing"
+)
+
+// RepoClone creates a local git clone in the given path, and sets up upstream remote
+// for fork repos, for good usability with tea.
+func RepoClone(
+	path string,
+	login *config.Login,
+	repoOwner, repoName string,
+	callback func(string) (string, error),
+	depth int,
+) (*local_git.TeaRepo, error) {
+
+	repoMeta, _, err := login.Client().GetRepo(repoOwner, repoName)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	originURL, err := cloneURL(repoMeta, login)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	auth, err := local_git.GetAuthForURL(originURL, login.Token, login.SSHKey, callback)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// default path behaviour as native git
+	if path == "" {
+		path = repoName
+	}
+
+	repo, err := git.PlainClone(path, false, &git.CloneOptions{
+		URL:             originURL.String(),
+		Auth:            auth,
+		Depth:           depth,
+		InsecureSkipTLS: login.Insecure,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// set up upstream remote for forks
+	if repoMeta.Fork && repoMeta.Parent != nil {
+		upstreamURL, err := cloneURL(repoMeta.Parent, login)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		upstreamBranch := repoMeta.Parent.DefaultBranch
+		repo.CreateRemote(&git_config.RemoteConfig{
+			Name: "upstream",
+			URLs: []string{upstreamURL.String()},
+		})
+		repoConf, err := repo.Config()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if b, ok := repoConf.Branches[upstreamBranch]; ok {
+			b.Remote = "upstream"
+			b.Merge = plumbing.ReferenceName(fmt.Sprintf("refs/heads/%s", upstreamBranch))
+		}
+		if err = repo.SetConfig(repoConf); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+
+	return &local_git.TeaRepo{Repository: repo}, nil
+}
+
+func cloneURL(repo *gitea.Repository, login *config.Login) (*url.URL, error) {
+	urlStr := repo.CloneURL
+	if login.SSHKey != "" {
+		urlStr = repo.SSHURL
+	}
+	return local_git.ParseURL(urlStr)
+}
diff --git a/modules/utils/parse.go b/modules/utils/parse.go
index 41e88ae..63fd19e 100644
--- a/modules/utils/parse.go
+++ b/modules/utils/parse.go
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func GetOwnerAndRepo(repoPath, user string) (string, string) {
 	if len(repoPath) == 0 {
 		return "", ""
 	}
-	p := strings.Split(repoPath, "/")
+	p := strings.Split(strings.TrimLeft(repoPath, "/"), "/")
 	if len(p) >= 2 {
 		return p[0], p[1]
 	}