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Humayun Kabir
Humayun Kabir

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at humayunkabirdev.hashnode.dev

🧑‍💻 How I Manage Multiple GitHub Accounts on One Computer (Without Losing My Mind)

#git #github #bitbucket #softwareengineering

If you’ve ever juggled more than one GitHub account — say, one for work and one for personal projects — you’ve probably hit that annoying wall: Git doesn’t know which identity to use, SSH keys get mixed up, and suddenly you're pushing company code from your personal account.

I ran into this too, and after way too much trial and error, I found a setup that just works. If you’re looking for a clean, reliable way to handle multiple GitHub accounts on the same machine — with the right user name, email, and SSH key for each — this guide is for you.

🧩 The Problem

  • You have multiple GitHub accounts
  • Git and SSH don’t know which one to use
  • You accidentally commit code from the wrong identity
  • Or worse, push to the wrong repo and get permission errors

Yeah. Not fun.

✅ The Goal

  • Use separate SSH keys for each GitHub account
  • Automatically use the correct Git user name and email for each project
  • Avoid switching configs manually every time

Let’s break it down.

🔐 Step 1: Create a Separate SSH Key for Each GitHub Account

We’ll create one key for your personal account and one for work.

Open your terminal and run:

# Personal account key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_personal@email.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

# Work account key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_work@email.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
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This will create two key pairs:

  • ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal and id_ed25519_personal.pub
  • ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work and id_ed25519_work.pub

🔗 Step 2: Add Your Keys to GitHub

For each account, copy the public key and add it to GitHub:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal.pub
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Then:

  • Go to GitHub.com > Settings > SSH and GPG keys
  • Click New SSH key, give it a name, and paste the key

Repeat the same for your work account using the id_ed25519_work.pub key.

⚙️ Step 3: Configure SSH to Know Which Key to Use

Now let’s tell SSH which key goes with which GitHub account.

Edit (or create) your SSH config file:

nano ~/.ssh/config
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And add this:

# Personal GitHub
Host personal.github.com
    HostName ssh.github.com
    User git
    Port 443
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal
    IdentitiesOnly yes

# Work GitHub
Host work.github.com
    HostName ssh.github.com
    User git
    Port 443
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
    IdentitiesOnly yes
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Here’s the trick: you’re telling SSH that anytime it sees personal.github.com, it should use your personal key, and for work.github.com, your work key.

🧪 Step 4: Clone Repos Using the Right Host

Here’s where that custom Host comes in.

Instead of the usual GitHub URL, clone like this:

# For personal projects
git clone git@personal.github.com:yourusername/repo.git

# For work projects
git clone git@work.github.com:yourcompany/repo.git
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It might feel weird at first, but this is how SSH knows which key to use. No more key conflicts!

👤 Step 5: Automatically Use the Right Git User Info

Okay, this part was a game-changer for me.

You know how Git uses your name and email in every commit? If you don't set it correctly, your commits might show up under the wrong GitHub account.

You could set it manually for each repo with:

git config user.name "Your Name"
git config user.email "you@example.com"
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But... that gets old fast. Instead, let’s make Git smart enough to pick the right user based on the folder your repo lives in.

1. Open your global Git config: 

nano ~/.gitconfig
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2. Add these lines: 

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

[includeIf "gitdir:~/projects/work/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-work
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This tells Git: “Hey, if I’m working in any folder under ~/projects/personal, use the personal config. If I’m in ~/projects/work, use the work one.”

3. Create the two config files:

~/.gitconfig-personal

[user]
    name = Your Personal Name
    email = your_personal@email.com
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~/.gitconfig-work

[user]
    name = Your Work Name
    email = your_work@email.com
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4. Organize Your Projects

Put your repos into folders like:

~/projects/personal/my-website
~/projects/work/client-dashboard
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Now Git will automatically use the right name and email when you commit — no extra commands needed.

🧼 That’s It!

Now you can:

  • Push to multiple GitHub accounts using different keys
  • Keep work and personal commits separate
  • Avoid annoying identity issues forever

🛠 Bonus Tips

Run git config user.name inside a repo to double-check which identity it’s using.

  • Run ssh -T git@personal.github.com to test if your SSH key works.
  • Keep all your SSH keys safe and backed up.

☕ Wrapping Up

This setup might seem like a lot up front, but once it’s in place, it just works. No more errors, no more misattributed commits, and no more mental juggling.

Hope this helped you clean up your GitHub life! If you’ve got questions, drop a comment — or if you’ve got tips of your own, I’d love to hear them.

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