Manage Multiple Github Accounts

Let's say you have two Github accounts - john_wick for personal use, and john_doe for work. We can use ssh keys and define host aliases in ssh config file; each alias for an account.

Generate ssh key pairs for github accounts

Run the command substituting your github email address to generate the ssh keys for both Github accounts.

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "johnWick@hightable.org"

Add your ssh keys to respective Github accounts by going to:

Settings -> SSH and GPG keys

Docs

• Generate ssh key pairs for accounts
• Add ssh key to GitHub accounts

Edit or create ssh config file

Create a file named config without any extesion in your <root>/.ssh/ directory with contents below:

# Default github account: john_wick
Host github.com
   HostName github.com
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_wick
   IdentitiesOnly yes

# Other github account: john_doe
Host High-Table
   HostName github.com
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_doe
   IdentitiesOnly yes

NOTE: High-Table in the config file is coming from github overview page of your organization.

Example: https://github.com/High-Table

Add ssh private keys to your agent

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_wick
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_doe

Docs

• Add ssh private keys to your agent

Test your ssh connections

ssh -T git@github.com
ssh -T git@High-Table

You'll see a prompt asking for a confirmation as below:

The authenticity of host 'github.com (192.30.252.1)' cant be established.
RSA key fingerprint is xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

If everything is alright you'll see a success response like down below:

Hi John Wick! You have successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

Last piece of the puzzle

Close any remote repository

git clone git@high-table:paraballem/chapter-3.git <path-to-directory>
cd <path-to-directory>
git config user.email "johnDoe@hightable.org"
git config user.name  "John Doe"

If for any reason you're having any issues with cloning you can try to create an empty directory and then run the following commands.

git remote add origin git@high-table:paraballem/chapter-3.git
git pull origin master

I've faced this issue with an organization project where I was unable to clone but the second approached worked fine.

And, if you are still facing any issues with even the second approach then you can try the same approach after overriding the default ssh key for repository.

git config --local core.sshCommand "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_doe"
git remote add origin git@high-table:paraballem/chapter-3.git
git pull origin master

References Used

• Using multiple Github Accounts with ssh keys
• Handle Multiple Github Accounts
• Managing Multiple Accounts

Hope it helps! Thank you.