How to switch accounts for GitHub CLI commands using commands

Created date: 2025/01/04, Update date: 2025/01/04

When using the GitHub CLI command, when switching the GitHub account, the


       gh auth login

command was executed every time.
When I was looking for a way to switch authentication information like a profile, I found a good method, so I will write it in an article.

Table of contents

GitHub multi -account switching (GitHub CLI command)
(Bonus) Other switching method (postscript on December 31, 2023)

GitHub multi -account switching (GitHub CLI command)

① Initial setting

The method of switching using the GitHub alias function on GH CLI multi-account switch was simple, so I customized it a little and implemented it.
- On the reference site, the ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.${プロファイル名} must be added to ~/.config/gh/config.yml for each gitHub account to access.

In the following method, by aliasing profile creation and switching, it is implemented in a way that does not need to be changed directly to ~/.config/gh/config.yml except for initial settings.


          git config --global 'credential.https://github.com.helper' ''
          git config --global --add 'credential.https://github.com.helper' '!gh auth git-credential'

The initial setting is to open the ~/.config/gh/config.yml file with a VI editor, etc., and add the alias of create-profile and switch-profile to the aliases key.The alias name and processing can be rewritten as you like.
- create-profile checks the current authentication status with the gh auth status command, and checks whether to create a profile in a dialogue format.As for the process, the file is copied to ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml file to ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.${Profile name} .
- In switch-profile , check if the ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.${Profile name} file is present, Copy to the ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml file.


          git_protocol: https
          aliases:
              create-profile: '!gh auth status && read -p "Do you create this profile? (y/N): " yn; case "$yn" in [yY]*) cp ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1 && echo "[INFO] New hosts file created: ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1";; esac'
              switch-profile: '!if [ -e ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1 ]; then cp ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1 ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml && gh auth status && echo "[INFO] Hosts file switched"; else echo "[ERROR] Hosts file not found: ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1"; fi'

If you want to change with the yq command, execute the following command.


          # Profile creation command
          yq -o yaml  -i '.aliases += {"create-profile": "''''!gh auth status && read -p \"Do you create this profile? (y/N): \" yn; case \"$yn\" in [yY]*) cp ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1 && echo \"[INFO] New hosts file created: ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1\";; esac''''"}' ~/.config/gh/config.yml

          # Profile switching command
          yq -o yaml  -i '.aliases += {"switch-profile": "''''!if [ -e ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1 ]; then cp ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1 ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml && gh auth status && echo \"[INFO] Hosts file switched\"; else echo \"[ERROR] Hosts file not found: ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.$1\"; fi''''"}' ~/.config/gh/config.yml

② Create an account setting file

After logging in to the GitHub account with the gh auth login command, execute the following command if you want to create a profile.


          gh create-profile ${Profile name}

The following is an execution example. We try to check whether or not to create a dialogue format so that the profile is not created by accidentally overwriting.Enter y and press Enter to generate a file as a profile.


          github.com
            ✓ Logged in to github.com as xxxxxxxxxx (oauth_token)
            ✓ Git operations for github.com configured to use https protocol.
            ✓ Token: *******************

          Do you create this profile? (y/N): y
          [INFO] New hosts file created: ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.xxxx

③ How to switch account switching

If you want to switch your GitHub account, execute the following command:


          gh switch-profile ${Profile name}

The following is an execution example.Since the alias commands are simple processing, we only judge whether the profile file exists or not.


          # When a profile exists
          github.com
            ✓ Logged in to github.com as xxxxxxxxxx (oauth_token)
            ✓ Git operations for github.com configured to use https protocol.
            ✓ Token: *******************c

          [INFO] Hosts file switched

          # If there is no profile
          [ERROR] Hosts file not found: ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml.test

(Bonus) Other switching method (postscript on December 31, 2023)

I haven’t tried it because I use Bitwarden instead of 1Password, but it seems that 1 password can switch the GitHub account.
- reference: Use 1Password to authenticate the GitHub CLI with biometrics | 1Password Developer