Key is already in use. How to access two github accounts from one computer?

This artice assumes you have already created an ssh key (~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_rsa_pub) on your machine. I call this the default account. A github account needs your public ssh-key. When you create a second github account, using re-using your ssh-key results in this message:

Key is already in use

Adding a second ssh key to github

• Open the Terminal
• Create a second key pair:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "your@email.com"

IMPORTANT: WHEN ASKED, YOUR HAVE TO SPECIFY A NAME FOR THE KEY. THIS ARTICLE USES: id_rsa_second

Create a config file to enter the default and second account

• Create or edit the file ~/.ssh/config
• Enter the following contents:

# Default account
Host github.com github account
HostName github.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

# Second account
Host github.com-p4e github account
HostName github.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_second

Cloning or setting remote for the second account

When cloning the repo or setting the remote for the second account, you have to change the hostname.

Example:

git clone git@github.com:githubaccount/reponame.git

git clone git@github.com-p4e:githubaccount/reponame.git