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Multi-Account GitHub Setup

Push to multiple GitHub repos with different accounts without manually switching credentials.

Problem

When you have multiple GitHub accounts (e.g., a personal and a work account) owning different repos, tools like gh auth switch require manual switching before every push or PR operation.

Solution

SSH host aliases route git push to the correct account automatically. A shell wrapper handles gh CLI operations (PRs, issues, etc.).

Step 1: Generate SSH Keys

Create one key per GitHub account:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_account1 -C "account1@example.com" -N ""
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_account2 -C "account2@example.com" -N ""

Step 2: Create SSH Config

Create or edit ~/.ssh/config:

Host github-account1
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_account1

Host github-account2
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_account2

Step 3: Add Public Keys to GitHub

For each account, log into GitHub and go to Settings > SSH and GPG keys > New SSH key, then paste the contents of the corresponding .pub file:

cat ~/.ssh/id_account1.pub
cat ~/.ssh/id_account2.pub

Verify the keys work:

ssh -T git@github-account1   # "Hi account1!"
ssh -T git@github-account2   # "Hi account2!"

Step 4: Update Repo Remotes

Switch each repo from HTTPS to its SSH alias:

# In repo owned by account1
git remote set-url origin git@github-account1:account1/repo-name.git

# In repo owned by account2
git remote set-url origin git@github-account2:account2/repo-name.git

After this, git push and git pull use the correct SSH key automatically.

Step 5: Auto-Switch gh CLI Account

Add this function to your shell config (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

# Auto-switch gh CLI account based on repo remote
gh() {
  local remote_url
  remote_url=$(git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null)
  case "$remote_url" in
    *account1*) command gh auth switch --user account1 2>/dev/null ;;
    *account2*) command gh auth switch --user account2 2>/dev/null ;;
  esac
  command gh "$@"
}

This makes gh pr create, gh issue list, etc. auto-switch to the correct account based on the current repo's remote URL.

How It Works

  • SSH host aliases map a fake hostname (e.g., github-account1) to github.com with a specific SSH key. Git sees the alias in the remote URL and uses the right key.
  • The gh wrapper inspects the current repo's remote URL before every gh command and switches to the matching account silently.

Adding More Accounts

  1. Generate a new key: ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_account3 ...
  2. Add a new Host block to ~/.ssh/config
  3. Add the public key to the new GitHub account
  4. Add a new case pattern to the gh wrapper