Setup custom SSH keys per GIT repository

15 August 2019 Leave a comment

To set up specific SSH keys for specific git repositories there is the possibility to leverage an SSH config feature.

Given:

  • your private key is ~/.ssh/special_id_rsa
  • the SSH git repo “URI” git@github.com:username/reponame.git

You can setup/modify the ~/.ssh/config like this:

Host your.hostname.com
    Hostname github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/special_id_rsa

When you clone the repo use the following URL instead:

git clone git@your.hostname.com:username/reponame.git

In case the repo has been already cloned/initiated you got to modify .git/config:

[remote "origin"]
    url = git@your.hostname.com:username/reponame.git

Reference: