Show HN: Ghswap – CLI tool for managing multiple GitHub accounts

A command-line tool for managing multiple GitHub accounts on the same machine. Seamlessly switch between different Git configurations, SSH keys, and GitHub CLI authentication contexts.

• Installation
• Quick Start
• Features
• Usage
• Configuration
• SSH Setup
• Auto-Switching
• Troubleshooting
• Requirements
• License

Install globally via npm:

Get started in less than 2 minutes:

That's it! The tool handles:

• ✅ Git config (user.name, user.email)
• ✅ SSH key management
• ✅ GitHub CLI authentication (optional)

Optional: Enable auto-switching based on directory:

• Git Configuration Management - Automatically sets user.name and user.email
• SSH Key Switching - Manages SSH keys in ssh-agent
• GitHub CLI Integration - Authenticates gh CLI when tokens are provided
• Directory-Based Auto-Detection - Automatically switches accounts based on current directory
• Interactive Account Selection - User-friendly menu for account switching
• Shell Integration - Optional auto-switching on directory change
• Safe SSH Config Management - Non-destructive updates to ~/.ssh/config

When you run ghswap add, you'll be prompted for:

1. Account name (e.g., "work", "personal")
2. Git username (e.g., "John Doe")
3. Git email (e.g., "[email protected]")
4. GitHub username (e.g., "johndoe")
5. Project directory (e.g., "~/projects/work")

The tool will then:

• Generate an SSH keypair automatically
• Add the account to your configuration
• Update your SSH config with the host alias
• Create directory mapping for auto-switching
• Display the public key for adding to GitHub
• (macOS only) Copy the public key to clipboard

Configuration is stored in ~/.ghswap.json:

• accounts - Array of GitHub account configurations
  • name - Unique identifier for the account
  • gitName - Git user.name value
  • gitEmail - Git user.email value
  • sshKey - Path to SSH private key
  • ghToken - (Optional) GitHub CLI authentication token
• directoryMappings - Maps directories to accounts for auto-switching
• defaultAccount - Account to use when no directory mapping matches

Generate SSH configuration entries for all accounts:

This command will:

• Generate SSH config entries for each account
• Back up your existing ~/.ssh/config
• Add a managed block to your SSH config
• Display clone URLs for each account

The generated SSH config uses host aliases:

This approach is safe to run multiple times - only the managed block is replaced, preserving your other SSH configurations.

Check which SSH keys are missing:

Or generate keys manually:

Add the public keys to their respective GitHub accounts:

Simple Method (Recommended):

Just switch to your account first, then use normal GitHub URLs:

Advanced: Using Host Aliases (Optional)

If you prefer, you can use host aliases to specify the account in the clone URL:

This is useful if you want to clone repos for multiple accounts without switching, but most users won't need this.

Switch accounts based on the current directory:

For automatic switching when changing directories:

1. Generate the shell hook:

2. Add the output to your shell configuration:

   # For zsh echo "$(ghswap setup)" >> ~/.zshrc # For bash echo "$(ghswap setup)" >> ~/.bashrc

3. Reload your shell:

   source ~/.zshrc # or source ~/.bashrc

Now accounts will switch automatically:

Problem: SSH key not working

Solution:

Problem: Git config not switching

Solutions:

• Verify you're in a git repository for local config changes
• Check current settings: git config --list
• Try switching with global scope explicitly

Problem: Directory-based auto-switching not working

Solutions:

• Ensure directory mappings use absolute paths or ~ prefix
• Verify shell hooks are properly installed
• Reload your shell after adding hooks: source ~/.zshrc
• Check that directory mappings in ~/.ghswap.json match your project paths

Problem: Permission denied when accessing SSH keys

Solution:

• Node.js >= 14.0.0
• Git - For git configuration management
• SSH - For SSH key management
• GitHub CLI (optional) - For gh authentication

1. Protect your configuration file:

   echo ".ghswap.json" >> ~/.gitignore_global

2. Never commit tokens - The ghToken field is optional and should be used with caution

3. Use strong SSH keys - The tool generates ed25519 keys by default, which are secure and modern

4. Regular key rotation - Periodically update your SSH keys and remove old ones from GitHub

Issues and pull requests are welcome at github.com/shubhamV123/ghswap.

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Shubham Verma

• Report issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: GitHub Repository