Setting up GIT on MacOS with multiple accounts.

README.md

Setting up GIT on MacOS with multiple accounts.

Setting up SSH

1. Generate a new ssh key.

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "personal@account.com" -f ~/.ssh/git_personal_account

2. Update your ~/.ssh/config file to automatically load keys into the ssh-agent. If you set a passphrase for the ssh key, make sure to add UseKeychain yes also.

# ~/.ssh/config

# Repeat this for all accounts:
Host *
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/git_personal_account

3. Repeat the previous steps for all accounts.

Setting up GIT

1. Update your ~/.gitconfig to conditionally load the account settings based on directory.

# ~/.gitconfig

[core]
    autocrlf = input
[init]
    defaultBranch = main
[gpg]
    format = ssh
[commit]
    gpgsign = true
[push]
    autoSetupRemote = true
[user]
    useConfigOnly = true

# Repeat this for all accounts:
# Include for all repositories inside ~/code/personal/
[includeIf "gitdir:~/code/personal/"]
    path = ~/code/personal/.gitconfig

2. In the directory you created for this specific account add a .gitconfig file. Repeat for all accounts.

# ~/code/personal/.gitconfig

[user]
    name = Personal
    email = personal@account.com
    signingkey = ~/.ssh/git_personal_account
[core]
    sshCommand = "ssh -i ~/.ssh/git_personal_account"

With one account added your file structure should look something like this:

~
+-- .ssh
|   +-- config
|   +-- git_personal_account ; account's private key
|   +-- git_personal_account.pub ; account's public key
+-- .gitconfig ; the global git config
+-- code ; a directory where you keep the code for all your accounts
|   +-- personal ; one account
|   |  +-- .gitconfig ; git config specific to the account
...

3. Copy the public ssh keys contents pbcopy < ~/.ssh/git_personal_account.pub and add it as a sign in key and authentication key to your git provider, ex. GitHub.