gitswitch

name

gitswitch

description

Switch git identity and GitHub account using the gitswitch tool when the user is committing or pushing as the wrong account. Use this skill whenever the user mentions: their commits showing the wrong name/email, pushing to the wrong GitHub account, needing to switch git profiles, wanting to check which git identity is active, getting attribution errors on commits, working across multiple GitHub accounts (personal vs work, multiple clients), or any time the phrase "wrong account" or "wrong identity" appears in a git/GitHub context. Don't wait for the user to say "gitswitch" — if the problem smells like a git identity mismatch, invoke this skill.

gitswitch skill

gitswitch is a terminal tool (installed via Homebrew or curl) that manages multiple local git identities. It switches git config user.name, git config user.email, the SSH key, and (optionally) the gh CLI account — all at once, with one command.

When to use it

Reach for gitswitch whenever:

• A commit landed with the wrong author name or email
• The user is about to push to a work/client repo but is still on their personal identity
• The user asks "which git account am I on?"
• The user needs to add a new profile for a new job, client, or side project
• The user is confused about why gh and git show different accounts (they're independent)

Step 1 — Diagnose

Always check what's currently active before doing anything:

gitswitch current     # shows active profile name + email
gitswitch list        # shows all profiles, ✓ marks the active one

If gitswitch is not installed, say so clearly and offer the install instructions:

# Homebrew (recommended):
brew install aksisonline/tap/gitswitch

# Or, without Homebrew (curl one-liner):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aksisonline/gitswitch/main/.github/install.sh | bash

Step 2 — Switch to the right profile

If the right profile already exists:

gitswitch <nickname>
# e.g. gitswitch work

That's it. One command applies user.name, user.email, the SSH key, and runs gh auth switch if a GitHub username is stored in the profile.

If the user needs to pick from a list, show them gitswitch list output and ask which one.

Step 3 — Create a profile if it doesn't exist yet

gitswitch add <nickname> "<Full Name>" <email> [flags]

# Common flags:
#   --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_work       force a specific SSH key
#   --gh-user <github-handle>      also switch gh CLI account
#   --sign-key <GPG-key-ID>        for signed commits

# Examples:
gitswitch add work "Alice Smith" [e-mail] --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_work --gh-user alice-corp
gitswitch add personal "Alice Smith" [e-mail] --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_personal --gh-user alice
gitswitch add clienta "Alice Smith" [e-mail] --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_clienta

After adding, switch immediately:

gitswitch work

Step 4 — Verify

gitswitch current     # confirm the new identity is active
git config --global user.email   # double-check git sees it

If the user already made commits with the wrong identity, don't hand-run git rebase/git commit --amend yourself — use gitswitch reauthor (below). It's one command instead of a multi-step git dance, and it's the tool the user expects to own this.

---

Fixing already-made commits — gitswitch reauthor

When commits were authored under the wrong profile (before the user switched, or before a profile existed), rewrite them in one step instead of scripting git rebase/git commit --amend yourself:

gitswitch reauthor <base> --to <nickname> [--from <old-email>] [--push] [--yes]

• <base> — a commit-ish (HEAD~3, a SHA) or a bare number N meaning "the last N commits". Range rewritten is (base, HEAD].
• --to <nickname> — required; the profile whose name/email gets applied.
• --from <old-email> — optional filter; only commits currently authored by this email are rewritten, others in range are left alone. Use this when the range mixes commits from multiple identities.
• --push — force-pushes (--force-with-lease) after rewriting. Without it, the rewrite is local only.
• --yes — skips the interactive y/N prompts. Ask the user before passing --yes, especially with --push — rewriting pushed history is destructive to anyone else who has pulled the branch. Confirm scope (which commits, which identity) in plain language first, then run it.

Example — the two most recent commits were made as the old identity before switching to work:

gitswitch reauthor 2 --to work --push

Requires a clean working tree (it rebases). If a merge conflict interrupts the rebase, gitswitch leaves the repo mid-rebase and tells you to run git rebase --abort to bail out — do that and report back to the user rather than trying to resolve conflicts on their behalf.

---

Identity awareness — shell integration

gitswitch install sets up three things at once:

gitswitch install

• Prompt segment — shows current git identity in your shell prompt
• Identity nudge — when you cd into a repo, suggests the identity you usually use there
• Tab completion — completes commands and profile nicknames

Detects your prompt framework automatically (Starship, oh-my-zsh, Powerlevel10k, or raw zsh/bash/fish) and installs the right way for each. Idempotent — safe to run multiple times.

After running, reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc   # or open a new terminal

---

Pinning an identity to a repo

If you always want a specific identity recommended for a repo regardless of usage history:

gitswitch pin work      # always recommend 'work' in this repo
gitswitch unpin         # remove the pin, fall back to auto-recommendation

The pin takes permanent priority over the auto-learned counts. unpin reverts to the usage-based recommender.

---

How the auto-recommender works

gitswitch tracks which identity is active each time you enter a repo (via the shell cd hook). When the top identity has ≥3 entries and ≥60% share and differs from your current identity, it nudges:

gitswitch: this repo usually uses work <[e-mail]> — switch? [y/N]

One keypress. Defaults to N if you ignore it.

To manually record the current identity for the current repo:

gitswitch record

To check what would be recommended right now:

gitswitch recommend     # exits 0 + prints nickname/name/email if nudge warranted
                        # exits 1 silently if already on the right identity or no data

---

Common scenarios

"My commits on GitHub show my personal email at my work repo"

gitswitch list           # find the work profile name
gitswitch work           # switch to it

Then for future commits they'll be fine. If they need to fix the last commit:

git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit

"I have two GitHub accounts and keep using the wrong one"

gitswitch add personal "Name" [e-mail] --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_personal --gh-user my-handle
gitswitch add work     "Name" [e-mail]     --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_work     --gh-user my-corp-handle
# then before each session:
gitswitch personal   # or: gitswitch work

"I want gitswitch to always remind me to use the right account in a repo"

gitswitch install        # sets up the shell nudge hook
gitswitch pin work       # optional: force 'work' regardless of history

"Is this tool the same as gh auth switch?"

No — they solve different problems:

• gh auth switch changes which account the gh CLI (API tokens) uses
• gitswitch changes your commit identity (user.name / user.email) and SSH key

You often need both. gitswitch calls gh auth switch automatically if you stored a --gh-user in the profile.

"I want to see my profiles in a UI"

gitswitch     # opens the interactive TUI, use ↑↓ to navigate, Enter to switch

---

All commands

Command	What it does
gitswitch	Open interactive TUI
gitswitch <name>	Quick switch (no UI)
gitswitch list	List all profiles
gitswitch current	Show active profile
gitswitch current --short	Output nickname\temail (used by Starship prompt)
gitswitch add …	Add a new profile
gitswitch remove <name>	Delete a profile
gitswitch pin <name>	Pin an identity to the current repo permanently
gitswitch unpin	Remove pin, fall back to usage-based recommendation
gitswitch record	Log current identity for this repo (called by shell hooks)
gitswitch recommend	Print recommended identity if threshold met
gitswitch install	Set up shell prompt segment, nudge hook, and tab completion
gitswitch claude	Install this skill into Claude Code (~/.claude/skills)
gitswitch claude --scope project	Install skill for this project only (.claude/skills)
gitswitch init	Re-import current git config as default
gitswitch version	Show version, check for updates
gitswitch upgrade	Upgrade to latest release

Profiles stored at ~/.config/gitswitch/profiles.json. Usage history stored at ~/.config/gitswitch/history.json.