Git Identity Manager - CLI Tool

Development README for the Git Identity Manager CLI package

A CLI tool to manage multiple Git identities with automatic GitHub SSH key setup. Use the regular git command with --profile flag to work with different GitHub accounts.

Features

• Use Regular Git - Just add --profile to any git command
• Multiple Git Profiles - Create and switch between different Git identities
• GitHub OAuth Integration - Sign in with GitHub to auto-configure everything
• Automatic SSH Key Management - Generates and uploads SSH keys to GitHub
• Automatic Shell Configuration - Sets up --profile support on installation
• Profile-based Cloning - Clone repos with the correct identity automatically

For Users

Installation from npm

npm i -g @guruvedhanth-s/git-id

That's it! Shell configuration is automatic.

For complete documentation, see:

• Main README - Package overview and quick start
• DOCUMENTATION - Complete usage guide

For Developers

Setup Development Environment

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/guruvedhanth-s/Git-Identity-Manager.git
cd Git-Identity-Manager/git-id-cli

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Link globally for testing
npm link

Development Workflow

# Build after changes
npm run build

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Test the CLI
git-id --version
git-id list

Quick Start

# Create a profile with GitHub sign-in
git-id add --github

# List your profiles  
git-id list

# Clone with a profile
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git --profile work

# Check current identity
git-id current

Commands Overview

Using --profile with Git

Add --profile <name> to any git command:

# Clone with profile
git clone https://github.com/company/project.git --profile work
git clone https://github.com/personal/repo.git --profile personal

# Push with profile
git push origin main --profile work

# Pull with profile  
git pull --profile personal

# Any git command works!
git fetch --profile work
git commit -m "message" --profile personal

Profile Management Commands

# List all profiles
git-id list

# Create new profile (with GitHub sign-in)
git-id add --github

# Create new profile (manual)
git-id add --manual

# Switch profile in current repo
git-id use work
git-id use personal --global  # Apply globally

# Show current identity
git-id current

# Test SSH connection
git-id test work

# Delete a profile
git-id delete oldprofile
git-id delete --all  # Delete all profiles

Usage Examples

Create and Use Profiles

# Create work profile
git-id add --github
→ Name: work
→ Sign in with work GitHub account

# Create personal profile
git-id add --github
→ Name: personal  
→ Sign in with personal GitHub account

# Clone work repository
git clone https://github.com/company/project.git --profile work
cd project
git-id current  # Verify: Profile: work

# Clone personal repository
git clone https://github.com/username/my-project.git --profile personal
cd my-project
git-id current  # Verify: Profile: personal

Switch Profile in Existing Repo

cd existing-repo

# Check current identity
git-id current

# Switch to different profile
git-id use work

# Verify
git config user.email  # Shows work email

Work with Multiple Accounts

# Setup profiles for each account
git-id add --github  # work
git-id add --github  # personal
git-id add --github  # client

# Use different profiles for different repos
git clone [email protected]:company/repo.git --profile work
git clone [email protected]:username/project.git --profile personal
git clone [email protected]:client/app.git --profile client

# Each repo automatically uses the correct identity and SSH key

Project Structure

git-id-cli/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts              # Main CLI entry point
│   ├── profile-manager.ts    # Profile CRUD operations
│   ├── github-auth.ts        # GitHub OAuth flow
│   ├── ssh-manager.ts        # SSH key generation & upload
│   ├── git-config.ts         # Git configuration management
│   ├── git-wrapper.ts        # Git command wrapper for --profile
│   ├── prompts.ts            # CLI prompts
│   └── types.ts              # TypeScript types
├── scripts/
│   └── postinstall.js        # Automatic shell configuration
├── dist/                     # Compiled JavaScript (generated)
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md                 # This file

How It Works

Profile Storage

Profiles are stored in ~/.git-id/profiles.json:

{
  "work": {
    "name": "John Doe",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "github": "john-work",
    "sshKey": "~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work",
    "signingKey": null
  }
}

SSH Key Management

• Key Generation: ED25519 keys are generated per profile
• Key Location: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_<profile>
• SSH Config: Auto-configured in ~/.ssh/config with host aliases
• GitHub Upload: Public keys uploaded via OAuth during profile creation

Git Configuration

When you use a profile, these Git configs are set:

git config --local user.name "John Doe"
git config --local user.email "[email protected]"
git config --local core.sshCommand "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_work"

Shell Integration

The postinstall script adds this function to your shell:

git() {
    if [[ " $* " == *" --profile "* ]]; then
        gitp "$@"
    else
        command git "$@"
    fi
}

This intercepts git --profile commands and routes them through the CLI tool.

File Locations

| What | Location | |------|----------| | Profiles | ~/.git-id/profiles.json | | SSH Keys | ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_<profile> | | SSH Config | ~/.ssh/config | | Shell Config | ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc |

Development Commands

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Run in dev mode (with ts-node)
npm run dev

# Link globally for testing
npm link

# Unlink
npm unlink -g

# Test the build
npm pack  # Creates tarball to inspect

# Publish to npm (with build)
npm publish

Troubleshooting Development Issues

TypeScript Errors

# Clean and rebuild
rm -rf dist/
npm run build

Testing Locally

# Link the package
npm link

# Test commands
git-id --version
git-id list
git-id add --github

# Unlink when done
npm unlink -g

Shell Function Not Working

# Check if linked
which git-id
which gitp

# Reload shell config
source ~/.bashrc

# Test function
type git  # Should show "git is a function"

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT