gitm - Git Multi-Account Manager

Seamlessly manage multiple Git accounts on a single machine with automatic SSH key management and account detection.

Features

🔐 Automatic SSH key management - Generate and manage ED25519 SSH keys per account
🎯 Smart account detection - Automatically detect which account to use based on repository
🌐 Multi-provider support - Works with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and self-hosted instances
🏢 Custom provider support - Add GitHub Enterprise, GitLab self-hosted, and more
⚡ Zero configuration - Works out of the box with sensible defaults
🔒 Security-focused - No credential storage, uses SSH keys exclusively

Prerequisites

All Platforms

Node.js 14 or higher
Git installed and configured

Windows Specific Requirements

gitm requires OpenSSH to be installed. You have several options:

Option 1: Windows 10/11 Built-in OpenSSH (Recommended)

Open Settings → Apps → Optional Features
Click "Add a feature"
Search for "OpenSSH Client" and install it
Restart your terminal

Option 2: Git for Windows

Install Git for Windows
During installation, select "Use Git and optional Unix tools from the Command Prompt"
This will add ssh, ssh-keygen, and ssh-add to your PATH

Option 3: Use Git Bash

If you have Git installed, run gitm commands from Git Bash which includes all SSH tools

Installation

npm install -g @loopgrid/gitm

Quick Start

1. Add your accounts

# Add personal GitHub account
gitm add personal
# ✔ Name: John Doe
# ✔ Email: john@personal.com
# ✔ Provider: github
# ✔ Username: johndoe

# Add work account
gitm add work

2. Authenticate

# Interactive authentication setup
gitm auth personal
# This will:
# - Show your SSH public key
# - Guide you to add it to GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket
# - Test the connection

3. Clone or initialize

# Clone with automatic account detection
gitm clone git@github.com:johndoe/project.git

# Or initialize existing repository
cd existing-project
gitm init

Commands

Account Management

`gitm add <profile> [options]`

Add a new Git account.

gitm add personal
gitm add work --provider gitlab-self  # Use custom provider

Options:

--provider <name> - Specify provider (default: prompts)

`gitm list`

List all configured accounts.

gitm list
# personal (John Doe) - john@personal.com [github]
# work (Jane Smith) - jane@company.com [gitlab]

`gitm remove <profile>`

Remove an account and optionally its SSH keys.

gitm remove personal
# ? Are you sure? Yes
# ? Remove SSH keys? Yes

Authentication

`gitm auth <profile>`

Interactive authentication setup with checklist.

gitm auth work
# Shows SSH key, provides browser links, and guides through setup

`gitm verify <profile>`

Verify account configuration and test SSH connection.

gitm verify personal
# ✓ Account exists
# ✓ SSH key found
# ✓ SSH connection successful

Repository Management

`gitm init [options]`

Initialize repository with account auto-detection.

gitm init
# Auto-detects account based on remote URL
# Or prompts to select from matching accounts

gitm init --no-ssh  # Keep HTTPS URLs

Options:

--no-ssh - Don't convert HTTPS URLs to SSH

`gitm use <profile>`

Set specific account for current repository.

gitm use work
# Updates git config and remote URLs

`gitm clone <url> [options]`

Clone repository with automatic account setup.

gitm clone git@github.com:company/project.git
gitm clone https://github.com/user/repo.git -d my-folder

Options:

-d, --directory <path> - Target directory
--no-ssh - Keep HTTPS URLs

`gitm status`

Show current repository's account configuration.

gitm status
# Repository: project
# Remote: git@github.com-work:company/project.git
# Account: work (Jane Smith)
# ✓ Using gitm account: work

Provider Management

`gitm provider add [key]`

Add custom provider for self-hosted instances.

gitm provider add gitlab-self
# ? Display name: Company GitLab
# ? Provider type: GitLab (self-hosted)
# ? Domain: gitlab.company.com
# ? SSH port: 22

`gitm provider list`

List all custom providers.

gitm provider list
# gitlab-self:
#   Name: Company GitLab
#   Host: gitlab.company.com
#   SSH Port: 22

`gitm provider remove <key>`

Remove a custom provider.

gitm provider remove gitlab-self

`gitm provider show <key>`

Show detailed provider information.

gitm provider show gitlab-self

Examples

Example 1: Personal and Work Accounts

# Setup
gitm add personal
gitm add work
gitm auth personal
gitm auth work

# Clone personal project
gitm clone git@github.com:johndoe/blog.git
cd blog
gitm status  # Shows: Using gitm account: personal

# Clone work project
gitm clone git@github.com:company/app.git
cd app
gitm status  # Shows: Using gitm account: work

Example 2: Multiple Accounts Same Provider

# Two GitHub accounts
gitm add personal-github
gitm add contractor-github

# Clone automatically detects based on organization
gitm clone git@github.com:personal-org/project.git  # Uses personal-github
gitm clone git@github.com:client-org/project.git    # Uses contractor-github

Example 3: Self-Hosted GitLab

# Add custom provider
gitm provider add gitlab-work

# Add account using custom provider
gitm add work --provider gitlab-work

# Clone from self-hosted instance
gitm clone git@gitlab.company.com:team/project.git

Example 4: Converting Existing Repository

cd existing-project
git remote -v  # Shows HTTPS URLs

gitm init
# ✔ Auto-detected account: personal
# ✔ Remote URL converted to SSH

git remote -v  # Now shows SSH URLs with gitm

How It Works

SSH Key Management

Each account gets its own SSH key stored in ~/.ssh/:

~/.ssh/gitm_personal_github
~/.ssh/gitm_personal_github.pub
~/.ssh/gitm_work_gitlab
~/.ssh/gitm_work_gitlab.pub

SSH Config

gitm creates custom SSH hosts in ~/.ssh/config:

# gitm: personal
Host github.com-personal
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitm_personal_github
  IdentitiesOnly yes

# gitm: work  
Host github.com-work
  HostName github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitm_work_github
  IdentitiesOnly yes

Remote URLs

Repository remotes use custom SSH hosts:

# Instead of: git@github.com:user/repo.git
# gitm uses: git@github.com-personal:user/repo.git

This ensures each repository uses the correct SSH key automatically.

Custom Providers

gitm supports any Git hosting service including self-hosted instances.

Adding a Provider

gitm provider add github-enterprise
# Provider display name: GitHub Enterprise
# Provider type: GitHub Enterprise  
# Domain: github.company.com
# SSH port: 22

Supported Types

GitHub Enterprise
GitLab (self-hosted)
Bitbucket Server
Gitea
Other (generic)

Using Custom Providers

# Add account with custom provider
gitm add work --provider github-enterprise

# Works automatically with clone/init
gitm clone git@github.company.com:team/project.git

HTTPS vs SSH

Why SSH is Recommended

Multiple identities - Each account has its own SSH key
No password prompts - SSH keys provide seamless authentication
Better security - No tokens stored in plain text

Using HTTPS

While gitm is designed for SSH, you can use HTTPS with limitations:

gitm clone https://github.com/user/repo.git --no-ssh

Limitations:

Cannot distinguish between multiple accounts on same provider
Requires manual credential management
May conflict when switching accounts

Converting to SSH

cd your-https-repo
gitm init  # Offers to convert remotes to SSH

Troubleshooting

SSH Connection Issues

# 1. Verify your setup
gitm verify personal

# 2. Check SSH key is added to provider
gitm auth personal  # Re-run setup

# 3. Test SSH directly
ssh -T git@github.com-personal

Windows: SSH Agent Not Running

If you see "Could not add key to ssh-agent" on Windows, the SSH agent service is likely not running.

To fix this permanently:

# 1. Open PowerShell as Administrator
# 2. Enable and start the SSH agent service
Get-Service ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service ssh-agent

# 3. Verify it's running
Get-Service ssh-agent

Alternative: Manually add your key

# If the above doesn't work, manually add your key
ssh-add C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\gitm_personal_github

Note: This is a one-time setup. Once enabled, the SSH agent will start automatically with Windows.

Port 22 Blocked

If your network blocks port 22:

# Option 1: Use HTTPS
gitm clone https://github.com/user/repo.git --no-ssh

# Option 2: Configure SSH over HTTPS (port 443)
# Add to ~/.ssh/config:
Host github.com-personal
  HostName ssh.github.com
  Port 443
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitm_personal_github

Wrong Account Detected

# Check current configuration
gitm status

# Manually set correct account
gitm use personal

Permission Denied (403)

This usually means the SSH key isn't properly configured:

# Re-run authentication
gitm auth personal

# Ensure key is added to Git provider
# Copy key manually if needed:
cat ~/.ssh/gitm_personal_github.pub

FAQ

Q: Can I use the same email for multiple accounts?
A: Yes, gitm identifies accounts by profile name, not email.

Q: What happens to my existing SSH keys?
A: gitm creates separate keys prefixed with gitm_ and doesn't touch existing keys.

Q: Can I use this with Git GUIs?
A: Yes, gitm configures standard Git settings that work with any Git client.

Q: How do I backup my accounts?
A: Backup ~/.ssh/gitm_* files and run gitm list to document your accounts.

Contributing

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

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
Open a Pull Request

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Type checking
npm run typecheck

License

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

Acknowledgments

Built to solve the daily struggle of developers juggling multiple Git accounts.

Note: This project is not affiliated with GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 11 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
src		src
test		test
.eslintrc.json		.eslintrc.json
.gitignore		.gitignore
.npmignore		.npmignore
.prettierrc		.prettierrc
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
tsup.config.ts		tsup.config.ts
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts

License

lpgrd/gitm

Folders and files

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gitm - Git Multi-Account Manager

Features

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

All Platforms

Windows Specific Requirements

Installation

Quick Start

1. Add your accounts

2. Authenticate

3. Clone or initialize

Commands

Account Management

gitm add <profile> [options]

gitm list

gitm remove <profile>

Authentication

gitm auth <profile>

gitm verify <profile>

Repository Management

gitm init [options]

gitm use <profile>

gitm clone <url> [options]

gitm status

Provider Management

gitm provider add [key]

gitm provider list

gitm provider remove <key>

gitm provider show <key>

Examples

Example 1: Personal and Work Accounts

Example 2: Multiple Accounts Same Provider

Example 3: Self-Hosted GitLab

Example 4: Converting Existing Repository

How It Works

SSH Key Management

SSH Config

Remote URLs

Custom Providers

Adding a Provider

Supported Types

Using Custom Providers

HTTPS vs SSH

Why SSH is Recommended

Using HTTPS

Converting to SSH

Troubleshooting

SSH Connection Issues

Windows: SSH Agent Not Running

Port 22 Blocked

Wrong Account Detected

Permission Denied (403)

FAQ

Contributing

Development

License

Acknowledgments

About

Resources

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Packages 0

Contributors 2

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Languages

`gitm add <profile> [options]`

`gitm list`

`gitm remove <profile>`

`gitm auth <profile>`

`gitm verify <profile>`

`gitm init [options]`

`gitm use <profile>`

`gitm clone <url> [options]`

`gitm status`

`gitm provider add [key]`

`gitm provider list`

`gitm provider remove <key>`

`gitm provider show <key>`

Packages