Setup Multiple SSH Keys

Ajmal Muhammed — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:43:24 +0000

How to Manage Multiple SSH Keys

If you have multiple keys, create an SSH config file as follow:

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add the following according to your key name:

Host gitlab.com
    HostName gitlab.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    AddKeysToAgent yes

Host github.com
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    AddKeysToAgent yes

What if we have multiple GitLab or GitHub keys?

Edit the config as follows:

# Personal GitLab
Host gitlab.com-personal
    HostName gitlab.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitlab_personal
    AddKeysToAgent yes

# Work GitLab
Host gitlab.com-work
    HostName gitlab.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitlab_work
    AddKeysToAgent yes

# Personal GitHub
Host github.com-personal
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/github_personal
    AddKeysToAgent yes

# Work GitHub
Host github.com-work
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/github_work
    AddKeysToAgent yes

Note: Here, you need to specify custom name for the Host.

Set proper permissions

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Clone/Configure repositories with the right host

Personal GitLab project
git clone git@gitlab.com-personal:username/repo.git

Work GitLab project
git clone git@gitlab.com-work:company/repo.git

Personal GitHub project
git clone git@github.com-personal:username/repo.git

Work GitHub project
git clone git@github.com-work:company/repo.git

Note: above examples are according to the previous config file

For existing repositories:

Check current remote

git remote -v

Change to personal GitLab

git remote set-url origin git@gitlab.com-personal:username/repo.git

Change to personal GitHub

git remote set-url origin git@github.com-personal:username/repo.git

Complete SSH Key Setup

Ajmal Muhammed — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:26:49 +0000

Step 1: Generate the key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

Optional: To specify custom names of the key file

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/my_custom_name

Step 2: Start the ssh-agent

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

Step 3: Add your key to ssh-agent

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

or if use specified custom name

ssh-add ~/.ssh/my_custom_name

Step 4: Copy your public key

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

This will display something like:

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJl3dIeudNqd0DPMRD6OIh65A9gg2GPow5Fzy9Hvd1HS your_email@example.com

Step 5: Add to GitLab or Github

Copy the entire output from the previous command
Go to https://gitlab.com/-/user_settings/ssh_keys/
Select Add new key
Paste the key into the "Key" field
Give it a title (e.g., "Production Server")
Click "Add key"

Step 6: Test the connection

ssh -T git@gitlab.com

You should see: Welcome to GitLab, @yourusername!

Forem: Ajmal Muhammed

Setup Multiple SSH Keys

Complete SSH Key Setup