Switching between a work and a personal git account is painful. You forget to change your email, push a personal commit under your company name, or spend five minutes figuring out why SSH authentication is broken.
git-switch-profiles fixes this. One command switches your entire git identity — name, email, and SSH key — and actively blocks the other accounts so nothing leaks through.
gsp work # everything switches to your work identity
gsp personal # everything switches backnpm install -g git-switch-profilesRequirements: Node.js 14+, git, ssh-keygen, and a running ssh-agent (standard on macOS and most Linux distros).
gsp initThis walks you through everything interactively:
- A name for the profile (
work,personal,freelance, anything) - The author name and email that will appear on your commits
- An SSH key — generate a fresh one or pick an existing key from
~/.ssh/ - Which git hosts this profile owns (
github.com,gitlab.com,bitbucket.org, or your own)
That's it. Your SSH host keys are trusted automatically so the first push just works.
gsp <name>Under the hood this does three things atomically:
- Sets
user.nameanduser.emailin your global~/.gitconfig - Loads the right SSH key into the agent
- Updates
~/.ssh/configto route the active profile's hosts to the correct key, and hard blocks every other profile's hosts
That last part matters. When you switch to personal, your work hosts get PubkeyAuthentication no — the wrong key literally cannot authenticate, no matter what's left in the agent or macOS Keychain.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
gsp init |
Add a new profile |
gsp <name> |
Switch to a profile |
gsp list |
See all profiles and which is active |
gsp current |
Show the active profile |
gsp info <name> |
Full details — key path, hosts, status |
gsp edit <name> |
Update a profile |
gsp remove <name> |
Delete a profile |
When creating a new key you can choose:
| Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| RSA 4096 | Default. Works everywhere. |
| Ed25519 | Modern and faster. Recommended for new setups. |
| ECDSA 521 | Elliptic curve alternative. |
~/.git-switch/profiles.json — plain JSON, yours to inspect or back up.
MIT © Raphael Neves