This page covers what switching does to your git config and how git resolves identity when both local and global config exist.

What switching sets

Every profile switch — whether via gitswitch <nickname>, gitswitch switch <nickname>, or the TUI — runs these commands in order:

git config --global user.name "<name>"
git config --global user.email "<email>"
git config --global user.signingkey "<key>"     # only if profile has sign-key
git config --global core.sshCommand "ssh -i <path> -o IdentitiesOnly=yes"  # only if profile has ssh-key

These are --global writes to ~/.gitconfig. They apply to every repo on your machine until you switch again.

Quick switch

gitswitch work

✓ Switched to 'work' — Alice Smith <alice@company.com>

Check what's active

gitswitch current

work — Alice Smith <alice@company.com>

Or inspect git config directly:

git config --global user.name
git config --global user.email

Git's identity resolution order

Git checks identity in this order, stopping at the first match:

Repo-local config (git config --local user.email) — set per-repo, never touched by gitswitch
Global config (~/.gitconfig) — gitswitch writes here
System config (/etc/gitconfig)

If a repo has a local override, gitswitch's global switch has no effect on that repo.

Verify commits are attributed correctly

Check the author of a recent commit:

git log -1 --format="%an <%ae>"

Before pushing, if you suspect the wrong identity was used:

# Check what identity was active
gitswitch current

# If wrong, switch and amend the last commit before pushing
gitswitch work
git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit

Tip: Once pushed, commit attribution is permanent. Use shell integration to get nudged when entering repos that usually use a different identity.

Remove a local override

If commits in a repo are using a per-repo identity you set manually:

git config --local --unset user.email
git config --local --unset user.name

After this, the global config (managed by gitswitch) takes effect.

Commit Identity Switching