Is it possible to have different Git configuration for different projects?

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.gitconfig is usually stored in the user.home directory.

I use a different identity to work on projects for Company A and something else for Company B (primarily the name / email). How can I have two different Git configurations so that my check-ins don’t go with the name / email?

As of git version 2.13, git supports conditional configuration includes. In this example we clone Company A’s repos in ~/company_a directory, and Company B’s repos in ~/company_b.

At the end of your .gitconfig file, you can put something like this:

[includeIf "gitdir:~/company_a/"]
  path = .gitconfig-company_a
[includeIf "gitdir:~/company_b/"]
  path = .gitconfig-company_b

Example contents of .gitconfig-company_a (the [core] section can be omitted if the global ssh key can be used):

[user]
name = John Smith
email = [email protected]

[core]
sshCommand = ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa_companya

Example contents of .gitconfig-company_b:

[user]
name = John Smith
email = [email protected]

[core]
sshCommand = ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa_companyb

There are 3 levels of git config; project, global and system.

  • project: Project configs are only available for the current project and stored in .git/config in the project’s directory.
  • global: Global configs are available for all projects for the current user and stored in ~/.gitconfig.
  • system: System configs are available for all the users/projects and stored in /etc/gitconfig.

Create a project specific config, you have to execute this under the project’s directory:

$ git config user.name "John Doe"

Create a global config:

$ git config --global user.name "John Doe"

Create a system config:

$ git config --system user.name "John Doe"

And as you may guess, project overrides global and global overrides system.

Note: Project configs are local to just one particular copy/clone of this particular repo, and need to be reapplied if the repo is recloned clean from the remote. It changes a local file that is not sent to the remote with a commit/push.

The .git/config file in a particular clone of a repository is local to that clone. Any settings placed there will only affect actions for that particular project.

(By default, git config modifies .git/config, not ~/.gitconfig – only with --global does it modify the latter.)

Thanks @crea1

A small variant:

As it is written on https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config#_includes:

If the pattern ends with /, ** will be automatically added. For example, the pattern foo/ becomes foo/**. In other words, it matches foo and everything inside, recursively.

So I use in my case,
~/.gitconfig :

[user] # as default, personal needs
    email = [email protected]
    name = bcag2
[includeIf "gitdir:~/workspace/"] # job needs, like workspace/* so all included projects
    path = .gitconfig-job

# all others section: core, alias, log…

So If the project directory is in my ~/wokspace/, default user settings is replace with
~/.gitconfig-job :

[user]
name = John Smith
email = [email protected]

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