git-identity-switcher

README

git-identity-switcher 🚀

Stop committing as the wrong person.

Manage multiple GitHub identities safely with per-repo binding. Never push to the wrong account again.

Note: The command is git-identity-switcher. Create an alias: alias gitx='git-identity-switcher' (see Installation section).

⚡ Demo

# List your identities
git-identity-switcher list identities
# (or use alias: gitx list identities)

# Bind a repo to an identity
git-identity-switcher bind work

# Verify it worked
git config user.email
# → work@company.com ✅

That's it. Each repo uses the right identity automatically.

Note: The binary is named git-identity-switcher. Create an alias for convenience:

echo "alias gitx='git-identity-switcher'" >> ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc
source ~/.zshrc

✨ Features

• 🔐 Per-repo identity binding - Each repository can be bound to a specific identity
• 🔑 SSH key management - Automatic SSH key generation and secure storage
• 🎫 PAT support - Personal Access Token support for HTTPS authentication
• 🔒 Secure storage - Secrets stored in OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service)
• 🛡️ SSH config safety - Managed SSH config blocks with automatic backups
• 👀 Dry-run mode - Preview changes before applying them
• 🎨 TUI interface - Interactive text-based UI for identity selection
• 🚦 Pre-push hooks - Optional safety hook to prevent unbound pushes
• ⚡ Fast & lightweight - Single binary, no dependencies

🎯 Why gitx?

Working with multiple GitHub accounts (work, personal, client) is a pain. You've probably experienced:

• ❌ Accidentally pushing to the wrong account
• ❌ Wrong commit author/email
• ❌ SSH config conflicts
• ❌ Manual identity switching

git-identity-switcher solves all of this by binding identities to repositories, so you never have to think about it again.

🎬 Demo

Watch the demo to see git-identity-switcher in action.

📋 What git-identity-switcher Does (and Doesn't)

✅ What git-identity-switcher manages:

• Local repo identity - Sets user.name and user.email per repository
• Remote URL configuration - Updates remotes to use correct SSH/HTTPS auth
• SSH key management - Generates and configures SSH keys per identity (optional)
• PAT storage - Securely stores Personal Access Tokens in OS keychain (optional)

❌ What git-identity-switcher does NOT touch:

• Global git config - Your ~/.gitconfig remains untouched
• Existing SSH keys - Only manages keys it generates (gitx_*), never touches your existing keys
• GitHub account settings - You still need to add SSH keys to GitHub manually

🔑 SSH Keys Note: git-identity-switcher can generate SSH keys for you, but you must add the public key to GitHub yourself. The tool will show you the key and provide instructions.

📦 Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/csawai/git-identity-switcher.git
cd git-identity-switcher

# Using Make (recommended - includes version info)
make install

# Or manually (version will show "dev" without Make)
go install .

Using Go Install (from GitHub)

go install github.com/csawai/git-identity-switcher@latest

# The binary will be named 'git-identity-switcher'
# Create an alias for convenience (add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):
echo "alias gitx='git-identity-switcher'" >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# Now you can use 'gitx' instead of 'git-identity-switcher'
git-identity-switcher list identities

Upgrading: Run the same go install command again to get the latest version.

Check Version: Run git-identity-switcher version to see the installed version, commit hash, and build date.

Using Homebrew (macOS)

brew install csawai/tap/gitx

🚀 Quick Start

1. Add an identity

git-identity-switcher add identity
# or: git-identity-switcher add identity (if you created the alias)

Follow the prompts to enter:

• Identity alias (e.g., "work", "personal")
• Name
• Email
• GitHub username
• Auth method (SSH or PAT)

For SSH: After key generation, git-identity-switcher will display your public key. Add it to GitHub at https://github.com/settings/ssh/new. You can also use git-identity-switcher show-key <alias> or git-identity-switcher copy-key <alias> later.

2. List identities

git-identity-switcher list identities

3. Bind a repository

cd /path/to/repo
git-identity-switcher bind work

This automatically:

• Sets user.name and user.email in the repository's local git config
• Updates the remote URL to use the identity's SSH host alias (for SSH) or HTTPS (for PAT)

4. Check status

git-identity-switcher status

Shows current identity configuration for the repository.

5. Unbind a repository

git-identity-switcher unbind

Reverts git-identity-switcher changes to the repository.

📖 Commands

Command	Description
git-identity-switcher version	Show version
git-identity-switcher status	Show current repository identity status
git-identity-switcher add identity	Add a new identity
git-identity-switcher list identities	List all configured identities
git-identity-switcher show-key <alias>	Show SSH public key for an identity
git-identity-switcher copy-key <alias>	Copy SSH public key to clipboard
git-identity-switcher bind <alias>	Bind repository to an identity
git-identity-switcher unbind	Unbind repository from identity
git-identity-switcher remove identity <alias>	Remove an identity
git-identity-switcher tui	Launch interactive TUI
git-identity-switcher install-hook	Install pre-push safety hook
git-identity-switcher uninstall-hook	Remove pre-push hook

🔧 How It Works

SSH Authentication

1. Each identity gets its own SSH key: ~/.ssh/gitx_<alias>
2. SSH config entries are added using host aliases (e.g., github.com-work)
3. Repository remote URLs are updated to use the host alias: git@github.com-work:org/repo.git
4. This avoids conflicts with your default GitHub SSH config

PAT Authentication

1. PAT tokens are stored securely in the OS keychain
2. Remote URLs are converted to HTTPS format
3. Git credential helper is configured to use the keychain

SSH Config Management

All gitx-managed entries are in a marked block:

# BEGIN git-identity-switcher managed
Host github.com-work
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitx_work
  IdentitiesOnly yes
# END git-identity-switcher managed

• Automatic backups are created before any changes
• Atomic writes ensure config is never corrupted
• Only the managed block is modified; your existing config is untouched

🛡️ Safety Features

• Dry-run mode: Use --dry-run flag to preview changes
• Automatic backups: SSH config is backed up before modifications
• Atomic writes: Changes are written to temp files, validated, then swapped
• Pre-push hooks: Optional hook prevents pushes from unbound repositories

📁 Configuration

• Identities: ~/.config/gitx/identities.json
• SSH keys: ~/.ssh/gitx_<alias>
• Secrets (PATs): OS keychain under service name "gitx"

💡 Examples

Workflow Example

# Add your work identity
git-identity-switcher add identity
# Alias: work
# Name: John Doe
# Email: john@company.com
# GitHub: johndoe
# Auth: ssh

# Add your personal identity
git-identity-switcher add identity
# Alias: personal
# Name: John Doe
# Email: john@gmail.com
# GitHub: johndoe-personal
# Auth: pat

# Bind work repo
cd ~/projects/work-project
git-identity-switcher bind work

# Bind personal repo
cd ~/projects/personal-project
git-identity-switcher bind personal

# Check status
git-identity-switcher status

Using TUI

cd ~/projects/my-repo
git-identity-switcher tui
# Interactive menu to select and bind identity

🧪 Testing

go test ./...

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/csawai/gitx.git
cd gitx
go mod download
go build -o git-identity-switcher .

📋 Requirements

• Go 1.21+
• Git
• SSH (for SSH authentication)
• macOS Keychain or Linux Secret Service (for secure storage)

🐛 Troubleshooting

SSH key not working

Make sure you've added the public key to your GitHub account:

cat ~/.ssh/gitx_<alias>.pub
# Copy and add to GitHub Settings > SSH and GPG keys

Keychain access issues (macOS)

You may need to grant Terminal/iTerm access to the keychain. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Keychain Access.

Permission denied errors

Make sure your SSH keys have the correct permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/gitx_*

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with Cobra for CLI
• TUI powered by Bubble Tea
• Secure storage via 99designs/keyring

⭐ Star History

If you find this project useful, please consider giving it a star ⭐

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Made with ❤️ by csawai