As developers and DevOps engineers, it's common to contribute to both personal and professional projects. However, using two GitHub accounts on a single machine can lead to identity conflicts, unverified commits, or accidentally pushing to the wrong repository.
In this guide I’ll walks you through setting up two GitHub accounts securely, cleanly, and with verified SSH-signed commits all on a single machine.
Objectives
Work with both personal and work GitHub repositories (public & private).
Use two separate GitHub accounts on one machine.
Ensure verified commits via SSH commit signing.
Maintain a scalable, secure, and professional Git setup.
Step 1: Generate Separate SSH Keys
Create separate SSH key pairs for each GitHub account:
You can name these according to your preferences while generating the SSH keys
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you.email@gmail.com" -f ~/.ssh/for-personal
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you.workemail@gmail.com" -f ~/.ssh/for-work
Do not overwrite the default id_ed25519. Keeping keys separate ensures flexibility and security.
Step 2: Add Keys to SSH Agent
ssh-add -l
ssh-add ~/.ssh/for-personal
ssh-add ~/.ssh/for-work
ssh-add -D
Create or edit your SSH config file:
touch ~/.ssh/config
Add the following content:
Host *
AddKeysToAgent yes
UseKeychain yes
IdentitiesOnly yes
ServerAliveInterval 60
ServerAliveCountMax 3
Host personal.github.com
HostName github.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/for-personal
Host work.github.com
HostName github.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/for-work
Step 4: Add Public Keys to GitHub
Upload the corresponding .pub files to each account:
GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG Keys → New SSH Key
Step 5: Clone Repositories Using SSH Host Aliases
git clone git@personal.github.com:your-username/my-repo.git
git clone git@work.github.com:my-org/work-repo.git
Set identity locally inside each project to avoid global conflicts:
cd ~/PersonalRepo
git config user.name "your name"
git config user.email "your email"
cd ~/WorkRepo
git config user.name "your name"
git config user.email "your work email"
Step 7: Enable Verified Commits with SSH Signing
GitHub supports SSH-based commit signing, separate from SSH authentication.
Generate Signing Keys
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_personal -C "signing-personal"
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_work -C "signing-work"
Add Signing Keys to GitHub
Go to GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG Keys → New Signing Key and paste the contents of each .pub file.
Set up commit signing in each repo:
cd ~/PersonalRepo
git config commit.gpgsign true
git config gpg.format ssh
git config user.signingkey ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_personal.pub
cd ~/WorkRepo
git config commit.gpgsign true
git config gpg.format ssh
git config user.signingkey ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_signing_work.pub
Pre-Commit Workflow: Start SSH Agent and Test Connections
Before making commits in any repository, ensure your SSH agent is running and keys are loaded:
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/personal_github
ssh-add ~/.ssh/work_github
ssh -T git@personal.github.com
ssh -T git@work.github.com
git add .
git commit -m "Your commit message"
git push origin main
Successful messages like Hi broh! You've successfully authenticated confirm proper setup.
Note: This step is particularly important after system restarts or when opening new terminal sessions, as the SSH agent may not be running or may not have your keys loaded.
Final Result
Secure and clean GitHub SSH setup for both accounts.
Verified commits using SSH signing keys.
Separate identities per project.
Bonus Tip
To view signed commits:
git log --show-signature
The end! - Thanks for reading…
