I'm using VS Code, Bitbucket, and a standard sandbox (not scratch org).  What's the correct procedure to clone an existing repository and connect it to the sandbox?

I've read this [question/answer](https://salesforce.stackexchange.com/questions/304197/connecting-a-clone-git-repo-with-an-existing-sandbox-org/304200?noredirect=1#comment496193_304200) but it doesn't work for me.

I've tried the following:

1.  If I clone the repo and then open the workspace in VS Code, I don't get the Authorize an Org command on the palette, even after waiting.  Authorizing by CLI doesn't do anything -- I still don't get the SFDX retrieve command when I right-click on the package.xml file.

2.  If I create a new project with manifest, then the right-click commands appear for package.xml, but I can't clone into the workspace because git won't clone into an existing folder.

I've searched around but haven't found a clear answer. Is it possible that I'm missing some VSCode config files in the repo?

**EDIT**: Here's some background detail.  I had created this repo using VS Code just a few days ago.  First I created a new project with manifest, retrieved some metadata, and then created the repo and pushed the files.  Everything looked OK.  I didn't do any other activity in VS Code or the repo except for this initial commit. I did omit some .json files which looked like VS Code config files -- I may have accidentally removed them from my local folder.

This morning in VS Code I've lost the right-click SFDX commands on package.xml and the Authorize an Org command doesn't appear on the palette.  I tried a few things (including restoring the .json files), then deleted the whole workspace folder and cloned the repo, and now I'm stuck with the issues above.