November 6, 2024•

How to Set Up Multiple Git Accounts: A Complete Configuration Guide for GitHub and GitLab

Introduction

Managing multiple Git accounts can be challenging, especially when working with different platforms like GitHub and GitLab. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of setting up and managing multiple Git accounts efficiently on a single machine.

Initial SSH Key Setup
SSH Configuration
Git Global Configuration
Repository-Specific Settings
Common Use Cases and Snippets
Troubleshooting Tips

1. Initial SSH Key Setup

First, you'll need to generate unique SSH keys for each Git account. Here's how:

# Generate GitHub SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.github@email.com" -f ~/.ssh/github

# Generate GitLab SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.gitlab@email.com" -f ~/.ssh/gitlab

2. SSH Configuration

Create or modify your SSH config file (~/.ssh/config) to manage multiple identities:

# GitHub account configuration
Host github.com-personal
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/github
    
# GitLab account configuration
Host gitlab.com-personal
    HostName gitlab.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitlab

3. Git Global Configuration

Set up your global Git configuration with default values:

# Set global Git configuration
git config --global user.name "Your Default Name"
git config --global user.email "your.default@email.com"

4. Repository-Specific Settings

Configure individual repositories with their specific credentials:

# For GitHub repositories
git config user.name "Your GitHub Name"
git config user.email "your.github@email.com"

# For GitLab repositories
git config user.name "Your GitLab Name"
git config user.email "your.gitlab@email.com"

5. Common Use Cases and Snippets

Cloning Repositories

# Clone from GitHub
git clone git@github.com-personal:username/repo.git

# Clone from GitLab
git clone git@gitlab.com-personal:username/repo.git

Setting Up New Repositories

# Initialize and push to GitHub
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin git@github.com-personal:username/repo.git
git push -u origin main

# Initialize and push to GitLab
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin git@gitlab.com-personal:username/repo.git
git push -u origin main

Managing Multiple Remotes

# Add multiple remotes
git remote add github git@github.com-personal:username/repo.git
git remote add gitlab git@gitlab.com-personal:username/repo.git

# Push to all remotes
git remote add all git@github.com-personal:username/repo.git
git remote set-url --add --push all git@gitlab.com-personal:username/repo.git
git push all main

6. Troubleshooting Tips

Verify SSH Connections

# Test GitHub connection
ssh -T git@github.com-personal

# Test GitLab connection
ssh -T git@gitlab.com-personal

Check Current Configuration

# View all Git configuration settings
git config --list

# Check remote URLs
git remote -v

Conclusion

With this configuration setup, you can seamlessly manage multiple Git accounts on your machine. Remember to:

Keep your SSH keys secure
Use the correct host names when cloning repositories
Configure repository-specific settings when needed
Regularly verify your connections and configurations

Remember to replace placeholder values (emails, usernames, repository names) with your actual information when implementing these configurations.