Using multiple Git accounts in parallel with SSH
Picture this: you have repositories on Gitlab for work and another set on GitHub for your personal projects. If you’re anything like me, sometimes you will need to access both on the same machine. In principle, this can be achieved fairly easily. However, getting there can be challenging, especially if you’re not familiar with the exact working principles of Git and its authentication methods.
I can’t count the numbers of times I had to go through the steps below on a colleague’s laptop because nobody else in my working group knew how to set up Git properly with Secure Shell (SSH). Well, this is why we’re here today. How to set up multiple Git accounts on the same machine using different SSH keys?
Let’s break it down.
Step 1: Check your SSH (andd Git) installation
Assuming that Git is already installed (if not, please do so), we’ll need to confirm if SSH is installed. On Linux, check for the ~/.ssh directory. If it doesn’t exist, you’ll need to install SSH via your package manager (like apt for Debian-based distributions or yum for Red Hat-based).
For Windows users, ensure you have OpenSSH installed:
- Open Apps & Features from the start menu.
- Navigate to Manage Optional Features → Add a feature.
- Select OpenSSH Client if it isn’t already installed.
Step 2: Generate SSH keys for each account
With SSH set up, you’re ready to create distinct SSH keys for each account. Open your terminal (or PowerShell on Windows) and run the following commands:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "personal@mail.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "personal@mail.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa_gitlab
Each command will create a private-public key pair, generating four files in total:
~/.ssh/id_rsa_github
~/.ssh/id_rsa_github.pub
~/.ssh/id_rsa_gitlab
~/.ssh/id_rsa_gitlab.pub
The .pub files are your public keys that you’ll add to your GitHub and GitLab accounts.
Step 3: Register the SSH Keys with your accounts
To connect your machine securely to GitHub and GitLab, copy each public key and register it with the respective account.
- Copy the public key by running
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github.pubor opening the file with a text editor. - Log into GitHub or GitLab, navigate to Settings → SSH Keys, and add the public key.
Step 4: Add keys to the ssh-agent
Next, let’s add each key to the ssh-agent, which handles SSH connections without repeated password prompts. To realise this step, make sure your ssh-agent is running. On Linux, you can run eval "$(ssh-agent)" to start it. For Windows, make sure the OpenSSH Authentication Agent service is running in the service manager (and start it if it’s not).
Now you can add your keys to the ssh-agent by running the following commands:
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_gitlab
Step 5: Configure SSH to differentiate accounts
Now, it’s time to set up SSH to use the correct key for each Git service. Create a configuration file at ~/.ssh/config:
bash
# Personal GitHub account
Host github.com
HostName github.com
User your-username
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github
# Personal GitLab account
Host gitlab.com
HostName gitlab.com
User your-username
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_gitlab
This tells SSH to use the key from id_rsa_github when connecting to GitHub and id_rsa_gitlab for GitLab, avoiding any key conflicts.
Step 6: Set up Git username and email
Finally, you can configure your Git username and email to match each account. You can either set them up per repository (matching the account with the provider) by running:
git config user.name "John Doe"
git config user.email johndoe@example.com
Or you can also set these variables globally using:
git config --global user.name "John Doe"
git config --global user.email johndoe@example.com
Done!
With everything in place, you’re now ready to handle multiple Git accounts without a hitch. Start cloning, committing and pushing. Git will know exactly which key and credentials to use for each repository, keeping your work and personal projects organised and secure.
Cheers!
David