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Multiple SSH Keys for Different GitHub Accounts

Multiple SSH keys for different GitHub accounts

Useful when you need Git/SSH access to two GitHub accounts (e.g. a personal one and an old/other one) from the same machine.

Generate a key per account​

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "your_email@example.com"

Save each one under a distinct filename, e.g. ~/.ssh/id_rsa_personal and ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work, then add them to the agent:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_personal
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work

# Verify they're loaded
ssh-add -l

Configure ~/.ssh/config​

# Personal account
Host github.com-personal
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_personal

# Work account
Host github.com-work
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work

Clone using the custom host alias​

git clone git@github.com-personal:owner/repo.git
git clone git@github.com-work:owner/repo.git

For a repo cloned this way, set the matching local Git identity:

git config user.name "your-name"
git config user.email "your-email@example.com"