Git Account & SSH Key Manager

gacc is the project name for this Git Account & SSH Key Manager.

gacc

gacc is a CLI for managing multiple GitHub accounts and SSH keys on one machine. It helps developers switch between personal and work Git identities safely, configure SSH access per account, and avoid pushing or committing with the wrong credentials.

What Is gacc?

gacc is a Git account manager for developers who use more than one GitHub account on the same computer. It automates SSH key generation, GitHub authentication, SSH config updates, and per-repository Git identity switching.

Who Is This For?

gacc is useful for developers who need to:

• Manage multiple GitHub accounts on one machine
• Use separate SSH keys for work and personal repositories
• Switch Git identities per repository without changing global Git settings
• Reduce GitHub authentication mistakes and SSH host conflicts

What Problem Does It Solve?

Managing multiple GitHub accounts usually means editing ~/.ssh/config, creating and naming SSH keys manually, and remembering which repositories should use which identity. gacc turns that into a repeatable workflow so you can:

• Manage multiple GitHub accounts without overwriting SSH settings
• Switch Git identities safely between repositories
• Route Git remotes through account-specific SSH aliases
• Keep local repository settings isolated from your global Git config

Features

• Generate and register SSH keys for each Git account
• Authenticate with GitHub using the device flow
• Update ~/.ssh/config with account-specific GitHub host aliases
• Activate a selected Git identity for the current Git repository
• Activate a selected Git identity globally for all Git operations
• Automatically apply accounts by directory using Git includeIf
• Deactivate repository-specific overrides and return to global defaults
• Show local, auto, and global account status for the current directory
• Display, rename, cache, backup, and restore managed account keys
• Delete local account records and remove uploaded SSH keys from GitHub

Installation

macOS and Linux with Homebrew

brew tap soongeo/gacc https://github.com/soongeo/gacc
brew install gacc

Install with Go

go install github.com/soongeo/gacc@latest

Manual Installation

Prebuilt binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows are available on the Releases page.

Quick Start

gacc add work
cd your-repository
gacc activate work

This flow creates an SSH key for the work account, uploads it to GitHub, and applies that identity to the current repository.

For a directory-based workflow, you can configure automatic switching:

gacc add work
gacc add personal
gacc auto add work ~/Work
gacc auto add personal ~/Personal

For a machine-wide default identity, you can configure a global account:

gacc global activate work

Commands

gacc add [name]

Adds a new Git account, generates an SSH key, starts GitHub device authentication, uploads the public key, and stores profile data locally.

gacc add work

gacc list

Lists the Git accounts registered on your machine and highlights the account currently active for the repository when possible.

gacc list

gacc activate [name]

Applies a selected account to the current Git repository by updating the origin remote and local user.name and user.email values.

cd client-project
gacc activate work

If you omit [name], gacc will try to use the currently active account or prompt you to choose one.

gacc deactivate

Removes repository-specific overrides so the repository goes back to your default Git behavior.

cd client-project
gacc deactivate

gacc global activate [name]

Applies a selected account globally by setting global user.name, user.email, and core.sshCommand.

gacc global activate work

gacc global deactivate

Clears global gacc-managed Git identity and SSH command settings.

gacc global deactivate

gacc auto add [name] [directory]

Automatically applies an account for repositories under a directory using Git includeIf.

gacc auto add work ~/Work

gacc auto list

Lists configured automatic directory-based account rules.

gacc auto list

gacc auto remove [name] [directory]

Removes an automatic directory-based account rule.

gacc auto remove work ~/Work

gacc status

Shows the local, automatic, and global account state for the current directory.

gacc status

gacc display [name]

Displays the public SSH key for an account.

gacc display work

gacc rename [old-name] [new-name]

Renames an account alias and updates associated key files and config references.

gacc rename work company

gacc cache [name]

Adds an account SSH key to ssh-agent.

gacc cache work

gacc backup [archive]

Backs up gacc config and managed SSH keys into a tar.gz archive.

gacc backup

gacc restore [archive]

Restores gacc config and managed SSH keys from a backup archive.

gacc restore ./gacc-backup-20260330153000.tar.gz

gacc delete [name]

Deletes the local SSH key and config for an account and attempts to remove the registered public key from GitHub.

gacc delete work

Manual Vs Auto Vs Global

gacc now supports three ways to apply an identity:

• local: Explicitly set an account for the current repository with gacc activate
• auto: Automatically apply an account by directory with gacc auto add
• global: Set a machine-wide default with gacc global activate

When To Use Each

• Use local when you want to choose the account per repository.
• Use auto when everything under a folder such as ~/Work should always use the same account.
• Use global when you want a default account everywhere unless a more specific rule overrides it.

Priority Rules

gacc resolves settings from most specific to least specific:

1. Local repository settings from gacc activate
2. Directory-based automatic settings from gacc auto add
3. Global defaults from gacc global activate
4. Any other plain Git defaults outside gacc

In practice, that means:

• Local user.name and user.email override auto and global values
• Auto rules override global defaults for matching directories
• Global settings act as the fallback when no local or auto rule applies

Use gacc status to see which layer is active for the current directory.

Examples

Per-Repository Manual Switching

gacc add work
gacc add personal

cd ~/src/client-a
gacc activate work

cd ~/src/oss-project
gacc activate personal

Directory-Based Automatic Switching

gacc add work
gacc add personal

gacc auto add work ~/Work
gacc auto add personal ~/Personal

cd ~/Work/client-a
gacc status

Global Default With Local Override

gacc global activate personal

cd ~/Work/client-a
gacc activate work
gacc status

Common Use Cases

Use different GitHub accounts for work and personal repositories

Create one account profile for work and another for personal, then activate the right one inside each repository.

Avoid SSH conflicts on one machine

gacc creates account-specific SSH aliases so multiple GitHub accounts can coexist without editing SSH settings by hand every time.

Keep repository identities local

gacc activate writes repository-level settings instead of changing your global Git identity for every project.

Automatically apply work and personal identities by folder

Use gacc auto add to map directories such as ~/Work and ~/Personal to different accounts.

Set one default account for everything

Use gacc global activate when one identity should be the default unless a repository or directory rule overrides it.

Comparison

Manual setup

Manual setup usually requires:

• Generating SSH keys manually
• Editing ~/.ssh/config by hand
• Updating Git remotes for host aliases
• Remembering to change local user.name and user.email

With gacc

gacc combines those steps into a single CLI workflow designed for developers managing multiple GitHub accounts and SSH keys.

FAQ

How do I manage multiple GitHub accounts on one computer?

Use separate SSH keys and SSH host aliases for each account, then apply the correct Git identity per repository. gacc automates this setup and switching workflow.

How do I use different SSH keys for work and personal GitHub accounts?

Create one gacc account per identity, such as work and personal. Each account gets its own SSH key and GitHub SSH alias.

How do I switch Git identities between repositories?

Change into the repository directory and run gacc activate [name]. This updates the repository to use the selected account.

How do I automatically use my work account inside ~/Work?

Run gacc auto add work ~/Work. Then repositories under that directory will automatically use the configured account settings.

Does gacc change my global Git configuration?

gacc activate does not change your global Git configuration. If you want a global default identity, use gacc global activate [name].

Can gacc help prevent pushing with the wrong GitHub account?

Yes. It updates the Git remote host alias and repository-level Git identity so the selected repository uses the intended account.

Troubleshooting

GitHub authentication does not start

Check that your network allows GitHub device flow authentication and try running gacc add [name] again.

The current directory is not recognized as a Git repository

Run git status first and make sure you are inside a repository before using gacc activate or gacc deactivate.

The wrong account still appears active

Run gacc status to inspect the current local, automatic, and global account layers. You can also run gacc list to see which registered accounts are marked as local, auto, or global.

Documentation

• Git Account & SSH Key Manager Docs
• How to manage multiple GitHub accounts with SSH keys

Releases

Download binaries and release builds from the GitHub Releases page.

Contributing

Questions, bug reports, and pull requests are welcome at the GitHub repository.