A Practical Guide to Using Multiple GitHub Accounts on One Machine (Work + Personal) via SSH

JAYANTH CHALUVADI — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 11:04:10 +0000

Struggling with `Permission denied (publickey)` when switching GitHub accounts?

This guide shows you how to configure multiple GitHub accounts using SSH keys, host aliases, and automatic Git identity switching.

Set it up once. It works forever.

🚀 Quick Setup (TL;DR)

If you already understand SSH basics, here’s the entire flow:

# 1. Create two SSH keys
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "work@company.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "personal@email.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

# 2. Configure SSH aliases
# ~/.ssh/config
Host github-work
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

Host github-personal
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

# 3. Clone using aliases
git clone git@github-work:org/repo.git
git clone git@github-personal:user/repo.git

👉 If this makes sense, you’re done
👉 If not, continue for the full breakdown

The Problem

You have:

One work GitHub account
One personal GitHub account

But SSH only sees:

github.com

So when you push code, it guesses which key to use. Sometimes it guesses wrong.

Result:

Permission denied (publickey)

The Core Insight (Most Tutorials Miss This)

You are configuring two completely separate systems:

System	Responsibility
SSH	Authentication (which GitHub account you are)
Git config	Commit identity (name and email)

They do not sync automatically.

This is why:

You can authenticate as work
But commit as personal

Mental Model

Git → SSH Alias → SSH Key → GitHub Account

github-work → id_ed25519_work → Work GitHub
github-personal → id_ed25519_personal → Personal GitHub

Step 1. Open Terminal

macOS → Terminal / VS Code terminal
Windows → Git Bash (recommended)

Step 2. Organize Repositories

mkdir -p ~/projects/work
mkdir -p ~/projects/personal

This enables automatic Git identity switching later.

Step 3. Generate SSH Keys

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "work@company.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "personal@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

Each creates:

Private key (never share)
Public key (upload to GitHub)

Step 4. Configure SSH (Critical Step)

Edit:

nano ~/.ssh/config

macOS Configuration (with Keychain)

# Global settings (required for persistence)
Host *
    AddKeysToAgent yes
    UseKeychain yes

# Work account
Host github-work
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
    IdentitiesOnly yes

# Personal account
Host github-personal
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal
    IdentitiesOnly yes

Windows Configuration

Host *
    AddKeysToAgent yes

Host github-work
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
    IdentitiesOnly yes

Host github-personal
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal
    IdentitiesOnly yes

Why aliases are required

Without aliases:

git@github.com

SSH cannot determine which key to use.

With aliases:

git@github-work
git@github-personal

SSH uses the correct key deterministically.

Step 5. Add Keys to SSH Agent

macOS

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

Windows (Git Bash)

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

macOS Keychain (Important)

UseKeychain yes enables secure storage
--apple-use-keychain persists keys across restarts

Without this:

Keys are lost after reboot
You’ll be prompted repeatedly

Step 6. Add Public Keys to GitHub

Copy keys

macOS:

pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work.pub

Windows:

clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work.pub

Add in GitHub

Profile → Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key
Add separately for:
- Work account
- Personal account

Step 7. Test Connections

ssh -T git@github-work
ssh -T git@github-personal

Expected:

Hi <username>! You've successfully authenticated...

Step 8. Automatic Git Identity Switching

Edit:

nano ~/.gitconfig

[user]
    name = Your Work Name
    email = work@company.com

[includeIf "gitdir:~/projects/personal/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-personal

Create:

nano ~/.gitconfig-personal

[user]
    name = Your Personal Name
    email = personal@example.com

How it works

if repo ∈ ~/projects/personal/
    → use personal identity
else
    → use work identity

Step 9. Clone Repositories Correctly

# Work
git clone git@github-work:company/project.git

# Personal
git clone git@github-personal:username/project.git

Fix existing repositories

git remote set-url origin git@github-work:company/repo.git

Step 10. Verify Setup

git config user.name
git config user.email

Common Issues and Fixes

Permission denied (publickey)

Cause:

github.com used instead of alias

Fix:

git remote set-url origin git@github-work:org/repo.git

Wrong commit identity

git config user.email

Check:

Folder structure
includeIf configuration

macOS Keychain not working

Ensure:

Host *
    AddKeysToAgent yes
    UseKeychain yes

Re-run:

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

Windows keys not persisting

PowerShell (Admin):

Get-Service ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service ssh-agent

Then:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

Quick Reference

Item	Work	Personal
SSH alias	github-work	github-personal
Key	id_ed25519_work	id_ed25519_personal
Folder	~/projects/work	~/projects/personal
Clone	git@github-work	git@github-personal

Final Thoughts

This setup:

Eliminates SSH conflicts
Automates identity switching
Keeps work and personal environments cleanly separated

One-time setup. Long-term reliability.

If This Helped

Save this for future setups
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DEV Community: JAYANTH CHALUVADI