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Multi-Git Account Setup (Personal + Work) ​

Scenario: You have one machine. One brain. Two lives: Personal and Work. Git doesn’t know how to separate them. Let’s fix that.

Tools of the Trade ​

  • 🔹 A mind that knows the terminal
  • 🔹 One laptop, two identities
  • 🔹 GitHub (or GitLab/Bitbucket — doesn't matter)

Objective ​

Manage both personal and work Git accounts seamlessly on the same machine without cross-contamination.

Step 0: Check Your Setup ​

bash
git --version
ssh -V

Step 1: Create Your Secret Keys (SSH) ​

bash
# Personal identity
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_personal_email@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

# Work identity
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_work_email@company.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

Hit Enter through prompts unless you want a passphrase.

Step 2: Add Keys to SSH Agent ​

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

Step 3: Send Public Keys to GitHub ​

Paste each one into GitHub settings → SSH and GPG keys.

bash
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal.pub
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work.pub

Step 4: Configure the Brain (aka ~/.ssh/config) ​

bash
nano ~/.ssh/config

Paste this:

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

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

Now SSH knows which identity to use based on the alias.

Step 5: Clone Like a Shadow ​

bash
# Personal repo
git clone git@github.com-personal:yourusername/personal-repo.git

# Work repo
git clone git@github.com-work:yourcompany/work-repo.git

Step 6: Set Your Git Identity Per Project ​

bash
# In personal repo
git config user.name "Your Personal Name"
git config user.email "your_personal_email@example.com"

# In work repo
git config user.name "Your Work Name"
git config user.email "your_work_email@company.com"

Each repo remembers its own identity. Like spies with different passports.

Optional: Quick Identity Switch Script ​

Create git-identity.sh:

bash
#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" == "personal" ]; then
  git config user.name "Your Personal Name"
  git config user.email "your_personal_email@example.com"
elif [ "$1" == "work" ]; then
  git config user.name "Your Work Name"
  git config user.email "your_work_email@company.com"
else
  echo "Usage: ./git-identity.sh [personal|work]"
fi

Make it executable:

bash
chmod +x git-identity.sh

🔚 Mission Complete ​

You've just:

  • Created two SSH identities
  • Configured Git to handle both
  • Separated personal from professional, clean and sharp

Welcome to the dual-life, Git Ninja 🥷

Bonus Tip: Check Identity in a Repo ​

bash
git config user.name
git config user.email

Now go forth and code — both lives intact.