If you're like me, you have a personal GitHub account and a work one. Or, maybe you have multiple for some reason. If you do, then you've surely run into the problem of needing to clone a repository on a device that has the credentials saved for a particular profile. Maybe you're traveling for work and need to do some changes on a personal repository, and only have your work laptop with you. Here is a simple solution to quickly use a particular SSH key to clone a repository, and it will be saved for future pushes and pulls.

Create an SSH Key

First, you will need to generate an SSH key to use for your profile. Within your SSH Settings page in GitHub, create a new SSH key for the device you are using. To generate the key, use the following command (which can also be found on the GitHub docs page.)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

Input the public key in your GitHub settings, give it a name, and save it.

Clone Your Repository With Your New Key

Now that you've given GitHub your new key, let's put it to use. The following code is thanks to Wiston Coronell on this StackOverflow answer.

git clone git@provider.com:userName/projectName.git --config core.sshCommand="ssh -i ~/location/to/private_ssh_key"

Once your repository is cloned, any push or pull will use that saved configuration utilizing your SSH key. Just be sure to remember to change your name or email if you have your other profile saved to the global config.

git config user.name "Your Name"
git config user.email "youremail@example.com"