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

#github #ssh #productivity #git

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

Result:

Permission denied (publickey)
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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
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github-work → id_ed25519_work → Work GitHub
github-personal → id_ed25519_personal → Personal GitHub
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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
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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
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Each creates:

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

Step 4. Configure SSH (Critical Step)

Edit:

nano ~/.ssh/config
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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
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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
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Why aliases are required

Without aliases:

git@github.com
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SSH cannot determine which key to use.

With aliases:

git@github-work
git@github-personal
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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
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Windows (Git Bash) 

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

clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work.pub
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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
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Expected:

Hi <username>! You've successfully authenticated...
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Step 8. Automatic Git Identity Switching

Edit:

nano ~/.gitconfig
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[user]
    name = Your Work Name
    email = work@company.com

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

nano ~/.gitconfig-personal
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[user]
    name = Your Personal Name
    email = personal@example.com
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How it works 

if repo ∈ ~/projects/personal/
    → use personal identity
else
    → use work identity
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Step 9. Clone Repositories Correctly 

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

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

git remote set-url origin git@github-work:company/repo.git
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Step 10. Verify Setup 

git config user.name
git config user.email
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Common Issues and Fixes

Permission denied (publickey)

Cause:

github.com used instead of alias
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Fix:

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

git config user.email
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Check:

  • Folder structure
  • includeIf configuration

macOS Keychain not working

Ensure:

Host *
    AddKeysToAgent yes
    UseKeychain yes
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Re-run:

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
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Windows keys not persisting

PowerShell (Admin):

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

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work
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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
  • Share it with your team

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