To separate work and personal projects, I run different SSH keys and git configs. For example specifying a different SSH key and git email for personal and work projects.

This allows me to clone any project, work or personal and get started straight away.

SSH config

Step 1: Create SSH key

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "j.fry@work.com"

When asked for the name give a new file name: id_rsa_work

Step 2: Create SSH config

Create an empty file called config in ~/.ssh

Add a host entry pointing to your newly made SSH-key by specifying an IdentityFile. In this example I am pointing all bitbucket requests to my id_rsa_work SSH key.

Host bitbucket.org
HostName bitbucket.org
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work

Step 3: Register SSH keys

You need to register your new SSH keys

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_work

Git config

Step 1: Create a custom .gitconfig_work file

Create an empty file next to your .gitconfig file e.g. ~/.gitconfig_work

Here you can specify the custom attributes you need.

[user]
name = Jonathon Fry
email = j.fry@work.com

Step 2: Update your .gitconfig file

Next you need to update your .gitconfig file to specify the root directory to apply your custom git config to e.g. ~/Documents/work

[includeIf "gitdir:~/Documents/Work/"]
	path = .gitconfig_work

This works by allowing you to apply a custom git config file to all subdirectories of the root directory provided. You can specify as many includeIf’s as required e.g. /Work/Client1 /Work/Client2

This technique is very flexible and can be applied as many times as needed allowing you to work on any number of projects whilst maintaining custom SSH/git configurations.