How do I tell the GitHub CLI to use a specific SSH key?

Question

I have various GitHub accounts and for each account I have SSH set up. So under ~/.ssh I have a public and private key for each account.

I want to use the GitHub CLI, but I am not sure how I can tell the CLI to use a particular SSH key.

In case it is relevant, this is what I get when I run ssh-add -l:

Example Scenario

I want to run gh repo create on GitHub account B, but for some reason, the repo got created on GitHub account A. Is there a way I can tell gh what account to use?

Does Github CLI (gh) uses ssh protocol at all? Do you mean git command line? Git is not Github CLI but can be used with Github. — phd
– phd, Commented Dec 1, 2022 at 15:47
Yeah, you can make it use ssh via git config set. Yep I'm talking about gh (the CLI, I know Git and the GitHub CLI are two different things). — J86
– J86, Commented Dec 1, 2022 at 15:56
If you mean gh config set git_protocol ssh — that's not about Github CLI, it's the protocol to use for git clone and push operations. See cli.github.com/manual/gh_config. So the question remains: are you talking about using gh with SSH or git? — phd
– phd, Commented Dec 1, 2022 at 16:06
I don't think gh repo create runs over SSH. It's a Github API call so it runs over HTTPS. You need gh auth logout and gh auth login. — phd
– phd, Commented Dec 1, 2022 at 21:31

deric4 · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-02 05:03:37Z

2

if you have different GitHub users the gh-cli won't be very effective. as @phd commands like gh repo create require logging in via an auth token. https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_auth_login

Switching contexts between accounts (i.e. github.com/user1 and github.com/user2) def doesn't seem supported so you'd have to hack around loging in and out each time every time you switched.

But configuring which ssh key git should use can be configured easily enough in some combo of ~/.ssh/config .gitconfig and/or setting the GIT_SSH_COMMAND env var before running git commands.

answered Dec 2, 2022 at 5:03

deric4

1,3868 silver badges12 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

J86 Over a year ago

Thanks, so it isn't currently supported.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How do I tell the GitHub CLI to use a specific SSH key?

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related