# Setup

> Set up and troubleshoot multiple GitHub accounts on one machine — SSH key per account, git includeIf routing by repo path, and gh CLI config-directory switching. Use when the user wants to add another GitHub account, hits wrong-account git or gh behavior, or asks about SSH aliases, includeIf, or GH_CONFIG_DIR.

- Skill: `dean-matt/setup` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dean-matt/setup`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dean-matt/setup/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: dean-matt (https://skillmd.com/u/dean-matt)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dean-matt/setup

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# GitHub Multi-Account Setup

## When to Use This Skill

Use when the user:

- wants to configure a new or additional GitHub account on this machine
- reports git or gh authenticating as the wrong account
- asks about SSH host aliases, `includeIf`, `GH_CONFIG_DIR`, or per-repo identity

## What Each Account Needs

- an account tree holding its repos
- an SSH key
- a `Host` alias in `~/.ssh/config`
- a git config file
- an `includeIf` rule pointing at its account tree
- a gh config directory

The account tree is the shared input — both tools decide from the path inside it.
The next four belong to git, the last to gh. Signing commits adds a second GitHub
registration of that same SSH key — see
[`references/signing.md`](./references/signing.md).

## Gather Inputs First

Before generating any config, establish the user's OS and shell, then ask for
their account labels, repo root, usernames, and emails. The references use two
accounts named `account1` and `account2`, a repo root of `~/Repos`, and
`<username1>` / `<email1>` placeholders. Substitute real values throughout.

## Then Read What the Task Needs

| Task | Read |
| --- | --- |
| Understand the design before changing anything | [`references/layout.md`](./references/layout.md) |
| Set up or fix git — SSH keys, host aliases, `includeIf` rules | [`references/git.md`](./references/git.md) |
| Set up or fix gh — config directories, `GH_CONFIG_DIR`, the shell hook that selects one | [`references/gh.md`](./references/gh.md) |
| Sign commits as the right account — signing keys, `allowed_signers`, GitHub registration | [`references/signing.md`](./references/signing.md) |
| Diagnose a machine already set up, or answering as the wrong account | [`references/audit.md`](./references/audit.md) |

git and gh authenticate differently and are configured independently; either works
without the other. A full setup reads `layout.md`, then `git.md`, then `gh.md`,
working through each section in order.

Steps whose commands differ by platform carry `macOS / Linux` and `Windows`
subheadings, macOS first, with the shared explanation below both. Steps without
them are the same everywhere.

Paths appear in POSIX form throughout, so a Windows reader takes `~/Repos` as
`C:\Users\<you>\Repos`. Inside the ssh and git config files, `~` stays literal on
every platform — ssh and git expand it, not the shell — so type it as written.
Only the PowerShell blocks spell paths out, because on Windows neither the shell
nor the command expands `~`.