Learn Pain Less

Pawneshwer Gupta

August 17, 2020

2 min

Setup SSH key for multiple Github/Bitbucket accounts

If you are working with multiple Github/Bitbucket accounts using ssh then you may face this problem, that you can’t use same ssh key on another account.

I face this problem everytime i reinstall operating system on my computer. And i have to google to find way to fix this problem. So i’m writing this to help me and you also.

Idea behind this fix

So basically we will generate multiple ssh keys on single computer and merge those all ssh keys in Config file. And that config file will behave like bridge to all bitbucket/github account and deliver ssh key to those accounts accordingly.

Let’s begin

If you have already setup ssh key on your computer then skip this step, otherwise use below commands on terminal or command prompt to generate default ssh key.

ssh-keygen -t rsa
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Now you have 2 file in .ssh folder, id_rsa and id_rsa.pub. 1st one is the secret key and second one is public key.
Now next you have to create more ssh keys for other accounts

Let say if you are working with 3 company account and 1 is your personal account. So add your default ssh key to your personal account. And create 3 new ssh keys for your 3 companies.

To add ssh key for company account use below command.

Generate key for 1st company

cd ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "company_name1" -f "company_name1"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/company_name1

Generate key for 2nd company

cd ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "company_name2" -f "company_name2"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/company_name2

Generate key for 3rd company

cd ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "company_name3" -f "company_name3"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/company_name3

Now you have 4 ssh keys on your computer, next step is to create Config file, which will act as bridge for all accounts.
create config file inside ~/.ssh directory.
You can create this file manually of use below command on Linux/Unix operating system.

nano ~/.ssh/config

This command will open config file in command line editor and if this file doesn’t exist then it will create that file for you.

Now you have to define some rules to map ssh keys with accounts.
Paste below code in config file, and modify according to your need.

For bitbucket

Host bitbucket.org
  HostName bitbucket.org
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
Host companyname1.bitbucket.org
  HostName bitbucket.org
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/company_name1
Host companyname2.bitbucket.org
  HostName bitbucket.org
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/company_name2
Host companyname3.bitbucket.org
  HostName bitbucket.org
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/company_name3

For Github

Host github.com
  HostName github.com
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
Host companyname1.github.com
  HostName github.com
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/company_name1
Host companyname2.github.com
  HostName github.com
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/company_name2
Host companyname3.github.com
  HostName github.com
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/company_name3

As you can see i’ve mapped company_name1 ssh key with account. Now add that company_name1.pub’s ssh key on you companyname1.bitbucket.org account.

I’m just giving dummy name, you can write anything which make sense to you and manageable for you.

How to add ssh key on Bitbucket or Github?

In Bitbucket:

Click on your user icon in the top right and select Bitbucket settings from the menu
Click on SSH keys in the left hand menu
Click the Add key button, enter whatever you want for label and paste your key into the box below.
Click Add key and you are done

In Github:

Click on your user icon in the top right and select Settings from the menu
Click SSH and GPG keys in the left hand menu.
Click the New SSH key button, enter whatever you want for title and paste your key in the box below
Click Add key and you’re done

Repeat process for the next account, except this time copy the another company_name