Since I use the same computer for both personal and professional work, I need to separate my Git configuration. I use GitHub for my personal projects and GitLab for professional ones, so keeping things clean is essential.

This guide explains how to manage two Git environments on a single machine, so you no longer have to worry about which configuration is being used depending on the folder you’re working in. No more pushing to production with your personal account by mistake.

I’m assuming you’re working on a Linux environment.

Update your global .gitconfig

First, open (or create) your global Git configuration file:

nano ~/.gitconfig

Then add the following content:

[includeIf "gitdir:~/projects/professional/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-professional

[includeIf "gitdir:~/projects/personal/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-personal

You can change the parent folders to match your own structure. In this example, I’m using ~/projects/professional and ~/projects/personal, but you can name them however you like.

With this configuration:

• Everything under ~/projects/professional will use the professional Git configuration.
• Everything under ~/projects/personal will use the personal Git configuration.

Create the professional configuration

Now create the professional config file:

nano ~/.gitconfig-professional

Add:

[user]
    name = FirstName LastName
    email = your_pro_email@domain.com

Create the personal configuration

Then create the personal config file:

nano ~/.gitconfig-personal

Add:

[user]
    name = FirstName LastName
    email = your_personal_email@domain.com

That’s it

Git will automatically return the correct email address based on the directory you’re in:

cd ~/projects/personal
git config user.email # -> Personal email

cd ~/projects/professional
git config user.email # -> Professional email

No more confusion. No more accidental pushes with the wrong account.

You can fully customize each environment to suit your needs and even add additional configurations if required.

For more details, you can refer to the Official Git Configuration documentation. However, it can be quite verbose, so searching directly on Google for specific settings might save you time.