Setup: 2 GitHub accounts — alice-work for the company and alice for personal/OSS. Different emails, different SSH keys, both active on the same machine.

1. Generate SSH keys

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_work -C "alice@company.com"
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_oss  -C "alice@github.com"

2. Add keys to GitHub

Work account (alice-work):

cat ~/.ssh/id_work.pub
# Paste into github.com/settings/keys as alice-work account

Personal account (alice):

cat ~/.ssh/id_oss.pub
# Paste into github.com/settings/keys as alice account

Test both:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_work -T git@github.com
# Hi alice-work! You've successfully authenticated...

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_oss -T git@github.com
# Hi alice! You've successfully authenticated...

3. Create gitswitch profiles

gitswitch add work "Alice Smith" alice@company.com \
  --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_work \
  --gh-user alice-work

gitswitch add oss "Alice" alice@github.com \
  --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_oss \
  --gh-user alice

4. Pin repos

cd ~/work/internal-api
gitswitch pin work

cd ~/projects/my-library
gitswitch pin oss

Daily workflows

Working on company code

cd ~/work/internal-api
# nudge: "this repo usually uses work — switch? [y/N]"
y

git checkout -b fix/critical-bug
git commit -m "Fix critical bug"
# committed as alice@company.com, SSH auth as alice-work

git push origin fix/critical-bug
# gh creates PR from alice-work account if --gh-user is set

Contributing to OSS

cd ~/projects/my-library
# nudge: "this repo usually uses oss — switch? [y/N]"
y

git checkout -b add-feature
git commit -m "Add feature"
# committed as alice@github.com, SSH auth as alice

git push origin add-feature

Using gh CLI with both accounts

Because both profiles have --gh-user set, gh switches alongside the git identity:

# Working as OSS account
gitswitch oss
gh repo list                         # lists alice's repos
gh issue list --repo alice/my-lib    # issues on alice's repos

# Working as work account
gitswitch work
gh pr list --repo alice-work/api     # PRs on company repos
gh pr create --title "Fix" --body "" # creates PR as alice-work

Verify correct attribution

Before pushing any commit:

gitswitch current
# oss — Alice <alice@github.com>

git log -1 --format="%an <%ae>"
# Alice <alice@github.com>

ssh -T git@github.com
# Hi alice! You've successfully authenticated...

Fix a wrong-identity commit before pushing

# Committed as work identity but should be oss
gitswitch oss
git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit
git log -1 --format="%an <%ae>"
# Alice <alice@github.com>

Troubleshooting

Commits are showing as alice-work on a personal repo

The identity was wrong when the commit was made. If not yet pushed:

gitswitch oss
git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit

If already pushed, the attribution is permanent. For future commits, use gitswitch pin oss in that repo.

SSH key rejected

gitswitch current
git config --global core.sshCommand
# Verify it points to the expected key

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_oss -T git@github.com
# Should authenticate as alice

Open Source + Work