Using two different GitHub profiles on the same laptop is manageable by configuring SSH keys and specifying them per repository. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Generate SSH Keys for Both Accounts

Each GitHub account should have its own SSH key.

For Account 1

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email1@example.com"
  • Save the key as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account1 (or another identifiable name).

For Account 2

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email2@example.com"
  • Save the key as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account2.

2. Add the SSH Keys to Your SSH Agent

Add the generated keys to the SSH agent.

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

Add Account 1 Key

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account1

Add Account 2 Key

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account2

3. Add SSH Keys to GitHub

  1. Copy the public keys to your clipboard:

    cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account1.pub
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account2.pub

  2. Go to GitHub:

    • For each account, navigate to Settings > SSH and GPG keys > New SSH Key.
    • Add the respective key for each account.

4. Configure SSH for Multiple Accounts

Edit or create the ~/.ssh/config file:

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add the following configuration:

# Account 1
Host github-account1
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account1

# Account 2
Host github-account2
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_account2

5. Clone Repositories Using Specific Accounts

Use the configured host names (github-account1 or github-account2) when cloning repositories:

For Account 1

git clone git@github-account1:username/repo.git

For Account 2

git clone git@github-account2:username/repo.git

6. Set Global or Repository-Specific Git Config

You can set your name and email globally or per repository.

Global

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your_email1@example.com"

Per Repository

Inside the repository directory:

git config user.name "Your Name"
git config user.email "your_email2@example.com"

7. Switch Between Accounts

Git automatically uses the appropriate SSH key based on the Host in the ~/.ssh/config file. Ensure that your repositories are cloned using the correct Host (github-account1 or github-account2).

Now, you can work with both GitHub accounts seamlessly on the same machine!

  • gh auth switch - to change accounts