Set up Mac to ssh to two different Github accounts

ssh_multiple_accounts_github.md

Set up Mac to ssh to two different Github accounts

Pre-requisites

• You have two accounts with github
• You have git installed on your personal machine (currently comes pre-installed on a Macbook Pro)

Steps

Lets suppose you have two accounts on Github

• work@email.com
• personal@email.com

Step 1. Create work ssh keys

On terminal:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "work@email.com" -f "id_ed25519_work"

Follow prompts for passprhase etc. (This will save private and public keys to ~/.ssh folder)

Step 2. Add work ssh key to ssh agent

On terminal:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

Make sure this is the private key and not the file ending in .pub

Step 3. Add public key to your work account on Github

On web: github > profile avatar > settings > SSH and GPG Keys > New SSH Key Give it a descriptive name - e.g. "Personal Macbook bought 2023" Leave type as Authentication Key

On terminal:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work.pub | pbcopy

(make sure this is the .pub file you are copying)

On web: paste into the Key field and press "Add SSH key"

Step 4. Repeat steps 1-3 for personal account

e.g.

• instead of work@email.com use personal@email.com
• instead of id_ed25519_work - use id_ed25519_personal

Step 5. Create ssh config file

On terminal:

vim ~/.ssh/config

With contents:

Host work-github
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work

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

Using github in different repos

Instead of git@github.com use git@work-github or git@personal-github depending on which account you are using

e.g.

• Cloning:

git clone git@work-github:<organization>/<repositoryname>

• Adding new remote

git remote add origin git@personal-github:<username>/<repositoryname>

Once remote conection is established you shouldn't need to worrry about this again