Configure SSH access for two GitHub accounts on your local machine

[armingli]

Step 1: Generate SSH Keys

1. Open your terminal.

2. Generate a new SSH key for each GitHub account. Replace [email protected] with your email associated with each GitHub account.

   For the first account:

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

   When prompted to save the key, give it a unique name (e.g., id_rsa_github_personal):

   Enter file in which to save the key (/home/you/.ssh/id_rsa): /home/you/.ssh/id_rsa_github_personal
   

   For the second account:

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

   Save this key with another unique name (e.g., id_rsa_github_work):

   Enter file in which to save the key (/home/you/.ssh/id_rsa): /home/you/.ssh/id_rsa_github_work
   

Step 2: Add SSH Keys to the SSH Agent

1. Start the SSH agent:

   eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

2. Add your SSH keys:

   ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github_personal
   ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github_work

Step 3: Add SSH Keys to Your GitHub Accounts

1. Copy the SSH key to your clipboard:

   cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github_personal.pub

   Go to GitHub (for the first account) > Settings > SSH and GPG keys > New SSH key. Paste the key and save.

2. Repeat the process for the second account:

   cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github_work.pub

   Add this key to the second GitHub account in the same way.

Step 4: Configure SSH Config File

1. Open (or create) the SSH config file:

   nano ~/.ssh/config

2. Add configurations for both accounts:

   # Personal account
   Host github.com-personal
       HostName github.com
       User git
       IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github_personal
   
   # Work account
   Host github.com-work
       HostName github.com
       User git
       IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github_work
   

Step 5: Clone Repositories Using the Correct Host

When cloning repositories, use the corresponding host defined in your SSH config:

For the personal account:

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

For the work account:

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

Conclusion

You should now be able to manage two GitHub accounts using SSH without any issues! Each account will use the appropriate SSH key when you clone or push to repositories.