Open Source + Work

This guide covers managing separate GitHub accounts for open source work and day job.

The scenario

You want:

• Work account — for company repos, closed-source projects
• OSS account — for personal GitHub projects, public contributions, open source

Different SSH keys, different GitHub accounts, different emails.

Setup

1. Generate SSH keys

# Work SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_work -C "alice@company.com"

# OSS SSH key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_oss -C "alice@github.com"

2. Add to GitHub accounts

Work GitHub account:

1. Go to https://github.com/settings/keys
2. Add ~/.ssh/id_work.pub
3. Test: ssh -T git@github.com (should auth as work account)

OSS GitHub account:

1. Log into your personal GitHub account
2. Go to https://github.com/settings/keys
3. Add ~/.ssh/id_oss.pub
4. Test: ssh -T git@github.com (should auth as OSS account)

3. Create gitswitch profiles

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

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

Daily workflow

Before starting work

# Working on company project
cd ~/work/internal-api
gitswitch work
# Now commits show alice@company.com, using id_work SSH key

# Working on open source
cd ~/projects/my-library
gitswitch oss
# Now commits show alice@github.com, using id_oss SSH key

With automatic nudges

If you’ve run gitswitch install:

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

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

Pin the repos for permanent association:

cd ~/work/internal-api
gitswitch pin work

cd ~/projects/my-library
gitswitch pin oss

Typical workflow: Contributing to OSS

1. Fork a project

# Fork on GitHub UI as your OSS account
# Clone your fork
git clone git@github.com:alice-oss/external-project.git
cd external-project

2. Switch identity

gitswitch oss
# Verify
gitswitch current
# → oss / alice@github.com

3. Create feature branch and commit

git checkout -b add-cool-feature
git add .
git commit -m "Add cool feature"
# Commit attributed to alice@github.com

4. Push and create PR

git push origin add-cool-feature
# Push from correct account (using id_oss)

Go to GitHub and create PR. Your OSS account shows as contributor.

Typical workflow: Company development

1. Clone internal repo

git clone git@github.com:company/internal-api.git
cd internal-api

2. Switch identity

gitswitch work
# Verify
gitswitch current
# → work / alice@company.com

3. Develop and commit

git checkout -b fix/critical-bug
git add .
git commit -m "Fix critical bug"
# Commit attributed to alice@company.com

4. Push and create PR

git push origin fix/critical-bug
# Push from correct account (using id_work)

Create PR on company GitHub. Your work account shows as contributor.

Using gh CLI with both accounts

If you use gh (GitHub CLI), it respects the GitHub account switch:

# As OSS account
gitswitch oss
gh repo list
# Lists your personal repos

gh pr create --title "My feature" --body "..."
# Creates PR from OSS account

# Switch to work
gitswitch work
gh repo list
# Lists company repos

gh pr create --title "Fix" --body "..."
# Creates PR from work account

Common scenarios

Contributing to OSS from work computer

# My work laptop has both company and personal repos
cd ~/work/internal-project
gitswitch work

# But also:
cd ~/work/side-projects/oss-contrib
gitswitch oss
# Switch to OSS identity before contributing

Reviewing different repos

# Check work PR
gitswitch work
gh pr list --repo company/internal-api

# Check OSS issues
gitswitch oss
gh issue list --repo my-project/repo

Keeping work and personal GitHub notifications separate

With both accounts authenticated and gh support, you can:

gitswitch work
gh notification list
# Shows work notifications

gitswitch oss
gh notification list
# Shows OSS notifications

Troubleshooting

Accidentally committed work code to OSS identity

If you forgot to switch before committing:

# Check current identity
gitswitch current
# → wrong identity

# Switch to correct one
gitswitch work

# Amend the commit to fix author
git commit --amend --reset-author

SSH key rejected when pushing

If SSH fails:

# Verify correct identity is active
gitswitch current

# Test SSH directly
ssh -T git@github.com
# Should show you're authenticated as that account

# Check git's SSH config
git config --global core.sshCommand

Pushing to wrong account’s repo

If you pushed to OSS account but meant work account:

# Check current identity
gitswitch current

# If wrong, switch
gitswitch work

# The commit is already pushed, but future commits use right account
# You can ask GitHub to change PR owner or push from correct account

Too many GitHub notifications

Managing notifications across accounts can be overwhelming:

1. Use GitHub’s notification settings
2. Label repos by account in local naming
3. Create aliases for quick switching

alias gsw='gitswitch work'
alias gso='gitswitch oss'

gsw  # Quick switch to work
gso  # Quick switch to OSS

Advanced: Filtering by directory

Automatically switch based on directory:

# Add to ~/.zshrc
function cd() {
  builtin cd "$@"

  if [[ $PWD == *"/work/"* ]]; then
    gitswitch work 2>/dev/null
  elif [[ $PWD == *"/projects/"* ]]; then
    gitswitch oss 2>/dev/null
  fi
}

Now switching directories automatically suggests the right identity.

Next steps

→ Multi-account GitHub
→ Quick Start
→ Shell Integration