Would You Like to Use Both GitHub Accounts on Your Workstation?

If you’re like me, you probably have a work GitHub account for your company projects and a personal account for your side projects. The problem? Your workstation is configured for work, and cloning personal repos becomes a nightmare of authentication errors.

Good news: you can have both accounts working seamlessly on the same machine. Here’s how I set it up.

The Solution: SSH Keys with Host Aliases

The cleanest approach is using separate SSH keys for each account and configuring SSH to automatically pick the right one based on a host alias.

Step 1: Generate a New SSH Key for Your Personal Account

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal

This creates a new key pair specifically for your personal GitHub account. The -f flag ensures it doesn’t overwrite your existing work key.

Step 2: Configure SSH Host Aliases

Edit (or create) your ~/.ssh/config file:

# Work account (default)
Host github.com
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

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

The magic here is github.com-personal - it’s an alias that still connects to github.com but uses your personal SSH key.

Step 3: Add the Public Key to GitHub

Copy your new public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_personal.pub

Then add it to your personal GitHub account:

Go to github.com/settings/keys
Click “New SSH key”
Set the key type to Authentication Key
Paste your key and save

Step 4: Test the Connection

ssh -T [email protected]

You should see:

Hi yourusername! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

Setting Up Commit Signing (Optional but Recommended)

Signed commits show a “Verified” badge on GitHub, proving the commits actually came from you.

Generate a Signing Key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_personal

Add this key to GitHub as a Signing Key (same process as above, but select “Signing Key” as the type).

Usage: Day-to-Day Workflow

Cloning Repos

Work repos - continue using HTTPS as usual:

git clone https://github.com/company/repo.git

Personal repos - use the SSH alias:

git clone [email protected]:yourusername/repo.git

Configuring a Personal Repo

After cloning a personal repo, you need to set your identity and signing config locally:

cd your-personal-repo
git config user.name "yourusername"
git config user.email "[email protected]"
git config gpg.format ssh
git config user.signingkey ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_personal
git config commit.gpgsign true

Pro Tip: Create Shell Functions

Running those config commands every time is tedious. Add these functions to your ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc):

# Personal GitHub setup
git-personal() {
  git config user.name "yourusername"
  git config user.email "[email protected]"
  git config gpg.format ssh
  git config user.signingkey ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_personal
  git config commit.gpgsign true
  echo "✓ Configured for personal GitHub"
}

# Clone personal GitHub repo from HTTPS URL
# Usage: gp https://github.com/yourusername/repo
unalias gp 2>/dev/null  # Remove oh-my-zsh git plugin's gp alias
gp() {
  local url="$1"
  local repo_path=$(echo "$url" | sed -E 's|https?://github\.com/||; s|\.git$||')
  local ssh_url="[email protected]:${repo_path}.git"

  echo "Cloning: $ssh_url"
  git clone "$ssh_url" && cd "$(basename "$repo_path")" && git-personal
}

Now your workflow is just one command:

gp https://github.com/yourusername/repo

The gp function takes a GitHub HTTPS URL, converts it to use your personal SSH config, clones it, changes into the directory, and configures your identity - all in one step!

Important zsh note: If you use oh-my-zsh with the git plugin, it defines gp as an alias for git push. The unalias gp line removes that alias so your function can be defined. Also, never use path as a variable name in zsh functions - it’s a special variable tied to PATH and will break command lookups!

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Clone + setup personal repo	`gp https://github.com/user/repo`
Clone personal repo (manual)	`git clone [email protected]:user/repo.git`
Clone work repo	`git clone https://github.com/company/repo.git`
Setup personal repo manually	`git-personal` (after cloning)
Test personal SSH	`ssh -T [email protected]`

Summary

SSH keys with host aliases let you use multiple GitHub accounts without conflicts
Your work HTTPS workflow stays completely unchanged
Personal repos use github.com-personal as the host
The gp function makes cloning personal repos a one-liner: just paste the GitHub URL
Signing keys add that nice “Verified” badge to your commits

No more authentication headaches. Both accounts, one machine, zero friction.

Happy coding!