Gitcore: Multi-Account Git Identity Manager in Rust

Most developers eventually need to manage more than one Git account — a work account, a personal one, an open-source identity. The default Git and SSH tooling was designed for a single global user, so running multiple accounts on the same machine quickly becomes a mess: commits go out under the wrong email, SSH authentication fails because the wrong key was offered, and setting everything up on a new machine takes an hour of manual config editing.

The goal was to build a tool that makes managing multiple accounts as simple as managing one — fully automated, no manual SSH config editing, no sticky notes.

Gitcore is built as a statically linked Rust binary with zero external runtime dependencies.

1. Deterministic Identity Routing

Each account gets its own isolated Ed25519 SSH key. Gitcore injects a strictly managed block into ~/.ssh/config, mapping each account to a unique host alias and enforcing IdentitiesOnly yes. This prevents OpenSSH from negotiating arbitrary keys — the right key is always used for the right account, automatically. Clone URLs (HTTPS, SSH, or shorthand) are rewritten on the fly to route through the correct alias.

2. Encrypted Portable Vault

A key requirement was zero-friction migration between machines — with no dependency on external tools like openssl. The entire identity state (config + all private SSH keys) is bundled into a single .gitcore file, secured via AES-256-GCM (authenticated encryption) and Argon2id (memory-hard key derivation) to defend against offline attacks. Restoring a full environment on a new machine takes one command.

3. Native Security Enforcement

Rather than shelling out to chmod, Gitcore uses native OS system calls (std::os::unix::fs::PermissionsExt) to programmatically enforce 0600 file permissions on all private keys. This ensures compliance with OpenSSH security requirements without platform-dependent workarounds.

Install

Linux & macOS:

curl -fsSL https://shedrackgodstime.github.io/gitcore/install | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr https://shedrackgodstime.github.io/gitcore/ps | iex

Then run:

$ gitcore --help

Manage multiple Git accounts safely with SSH keys

Usage: gitcore <COMMAND>

Commands:
  add     Add a new git account (creates SSH key + config)
  list    List all configured accounts with usage instructions
  clone   Clone a repo using a specific account (auto-sets git config)
  test    Test SSH connection (e.g. gitcore test github-work)
  remote  Manage git remotes for repositories
  export  Export configuration (backup or migrate to another machine)
  import  Import configuration from a file or stdin
  remove  Remove an account from gitcore config
  audit   Run security audit (file permissions, key protection, etc.)
  rotate  Rotate SSH key for an account (regenerate + show new public key)

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

Gitcore removes the entire category of "wrong account" mistakes from a developer's workflow. Work and personal accounts stay completely isolated, switching between them requires zero manual effort, and migrating to a new machine takes seconds instead of an hour. It also includes optional GPG commit signing integration, a security audit command, and a CLI that guides you through setup interactively from the very first run.

📖 Full documentation and technical deep-dive →