Git Profile Switcher Guide

Overview

This guide explains how to manage multiple Git identities (for example work and personal) using a simple bash script. The approach uses:

• Different Git global user configurations
• Different SSH identities
• A small script to switch profiles

This prevents committing with the wrong email when working across different repositories.

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1. Problem

Git only supports one global identity at a time:

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

Developers who work with multiple accounts often accidentally commit using the wrong email address.

Example mistake:

Author: Developer Name <personal@email.com>

But the commit should have used the work email.

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2. Script Capabilities

The script provides three commands:

Command	Description
work	Switch to work Git profile
personal	Switch to personal Git profile
show	Display current Git configuration

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3. Script

#!/bin/bash

# Git Profile Switcher Script

show_help() {
    echo "Usage: $0 [work|personal|show]"
    echo ""
    echo "Commands:"
    echo "  work      - Switch to work profile (github.com)"
    echo "  personal  - Switch to personal profile (git@personal)"
    echo "  show      - Show current git configuration"
}

set_work_profile() {
    echo "Setting up work profile..."
    git config --global user.name "Developer Name"
    git config --global user.email "work@email.com"
    echo "Work profile activated"
}

set_personal_profile() {
    echo "Setting up personal profile..."
    git config --global user.name "Developer Name"
    git config --global user.email "personal@email.com"
    echo "Personal profile activated"
}

show_current_config() {
    echo "Current Git Configuration:"
    echo "Name: $(git config --global user.name)"
    echo "Email: $(git config --global user.email)"
}

case "$1" in
    work)
        set_work_profile
        ;;
    personal)
        set_personal_profile
        ;;
    show)
        show_current_config
        ;;
    *)
        show_help
        ;;
esac

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4. Installation

Save the script

Example location:

~/scripts/git-profile

Make it executable

chmod +x ~/scripts/git-profile

Add to PATH

Add this to .bashrc or .zshrc:

export PATH="$HOME/scripts:$PATH"

Reload the shell:

source ~/.bashrc

Now the command is available globally.

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5. Usage

Switch to Work Profile

git-profile work

Switch to Personal Profile

git-profile personal

Show Current Configuration

git-profile show

Example output:

Current Git Configuration:
Name: Developer Name
Email: personal@email.com

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6. SSH Setup

The script assumes two SSH identities.

Work key

~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Used with repository URLs like:

git@github.com:company/repo.git

Personal key

~/.ssh/id_rsa

Configured as a custom host in SSH.

Example SSH config (~/.ssh/config):

Host github.com
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Host personal
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

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7. Repository URL Examples

Work repository

git@github.com:company/project.git

Personal repository

git@personal:username/project.git

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8. Verify Authentication

Test which SSH identity is used.

ssh -T git@github.com

or

ssh -T git@personal

Expected output:

Hi username! You've successfully authenticated.

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9. Typical Workflow

Work repositories

git-profile work
cd work-project
git commit
git push

Personal repositories

git-profile personal
cd personal-project
git commit
git push

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10. Benefits

• Prevents wrong commit identity
• Fast profile switching
• Minimal setup
• Works with existing SSH configuration
• Easy to extend for more profiles

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