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gh should auto-select account based on repo remote / git config #13529
Description
Activity
Shell wrapper workaround
For anyone who needs this today, here's what I'm using. Same concept as @jayproulx's wrapper in #12459 but uses the JSON output instead of grepping stderr:
# ~/.zsh_aliases (or .bashrc, .zshrc, etc.) # gh CLI — auto-switch account based on git config github.account # Uses includeIf in ~/.gitconfig to set github.account per directory. # Workaround until this is implemented upstream. gh() { local target active target=$(git config github.account 2>/dev/null) if [[ -n "$target" ]]; then active=$(command gh auth status --active --json hosts -q '.hosts["github.com"][0].login' 2>/dev/null) if [[ "$target" != "$active" ]]; then command gh auth switch --user "$target" &>/dev/null fi fi command gh "$@" }
Git config setup:
# ~/.gitconfig [github] account = personal-username # default [includeIf "gitdir:~/projects/work/"] path = ~/.gitconfig-work # ~/.gitconfig-work [github] account = work-username # overrides default for repos under ~/projects/work/
The default
[github]section must come before theincludeIfso conditional includes can override it (git config is last-wins).Works, but mutates global auth state on every invocation — not safe across concurrent terminal sessions. Native support would fix that.
- added 6 commits that reference this issue
on May 29, 2026
Problem
ghsupports multiple authenticated accounts but requires manualgh auth switchevery time you move between repos owned by different accounts. This is a constant source of friction — 404s, PRs attributed to the wrong account, CI triggered under the wrong identity.Anyone managing separate personal and work GitHub accounts (which is extremely common) hits this daily.
Expected Behavior
ghshould automatically select the correct authenticated account based on the current repo context. Two natural resolution strategies:git config github.account— works with git's existingincludeIf/ conditional includes, zero new config surfaceEither way:
cdinto a repo, rungh pr create, correct account is used. No manual switching.Current Workaround
A shell wrapper that calls
gh auth switchbefore every invocation. It works but:ghcommandPrior Art
help wanted, not because of any technical concernincludeIfThe implementation is trivial — a single check in
ActiveUser()before falling back to the stored active user. A working PR already exists. This should be a priority for the multi-account experience.