git-profile

Manage multiple Git identities. Never commit with the wrong email again.

$ git profile use Personal

  ✓ Switched to profile "Personal"

    Scope:             Local
    Repository:        my-side-project
    Name:              Malay Kumar
    Email:             malay@gmail.com

git-profile is a Git extension that lets you define named profiles (work, personal, open-source) and switch between them per repository. It integrates with Git's native extension system — just type git profile.

Part of the gitx ecosystem.

The Problem

If you use Git with multiple accounts, you've probably:

• Committed to a work repo with your personal email
• Had to git config user.email ... in every new clone
• Forgotten which identity a repository is using
• Wished Git had a built-in "profile" concept

git-profile fixes all of this.

Quick Start

# Install
go install github.com/Malay-dev/gitx-profile@latest

# Create profiles
git profile add personal --name "Alice" --email "alice@gmail.com"
git profile add work --name "Alice" --email "alice@acmecorp.com"

# Or inherit from your existing global config
git profile add work --from global

# Switch identity (current repo only)
git profile use work

# See what's active
git profile current

# Inspect a repo's full identity setup
git profile show

Install

From source (requires Go 1.22+)

go install github.com/Malay-dev/gitx-profile@latest

The binary is named git-profile. Git automatically discovers it as git profile.

From GitHub Releases

Download the binary for your platform from Releases, extract it, and place it somewhere in your PATH:

# macOS / Linux
sudo mv git-profile /usr/local/bin/

# Or without sudo
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv git-profile ~/.local/bin/

Verify installation

git profile --help

If Git finds it, you're good.

Commands

git profile add <name>

Create a new profile.

# Interactive
git profile add work

# With flags
git profile add work --name "Alice" --email "alice@acmecorp.com"

# Inherit from global git config (with confirmation prompt)
git profile add work --from global

# Clone from an existing profile (override what's different)
git profile add oss --from work --email "alice@opensource.org"

git profile use <name>

Switch to a profile. Writes to the current repo by default (not global).

git profile use work
# ✓ Switched to profile "work"
#
#   Scope:             Local
#   Repository:        inventory-service
#   Name:              Alice
#   Email:             alice@acmecorp.com

Use --global to change the global default:

git profile use personal --global

git profile current

Show the active identity and which profile it matches.

git profile current
# ✓ Profile: work
#
#   Name:              Alice
#   Email:             alice@acmecorp.com
#   Repository:        inventory-service
#   Scope:             Local (.git/config)

git profile list

List all saved profiles. Active one is marked with *.

git profile list
# * work <alice@acmecorp.com>
#   personal <alice@gmail.com>
#   oss <alice@opensource.org>

git profile show

Discover the full identity configuration of the current repository.

git profile show
# === Repository ===
#
#   Name:              inventory-service
#   Remote (origin):   git@github.com:AcmeCorp/inventory-service.git
#   Branch:            main
#
# === Identity ===
#
#   user.name:         Alice
#   user.email:        alice@acmecorp.com
#
#   Source breakdown:
#     user.name:       Alice (local — .git/config)
#     user.email:      alice@acmecorp.com (local — .git/config)
#
# === Profile ===
#
#   ✓ Matched: work

git profile check

Verify the current identity matches a known profile. Useful in pre-commit hooks.

git profile check
# ✓ Identity matches profile "work"

git profile check --quiet
# (exit code 0 = match, 1 = mismatch)

git profile doctor

Run diagnostics on your Git identity setup.

git profile doctor

git profile remove <name>

Delete a saved profile. Does not change any existing git config.

git profile remove old-work

git profile policy list / git profile policy create

Manage identity policies — control which profiles are allowed in which repos.

git profile policy create
# Policy name: acme-corp
# Remote patterns: github.com/AcmeCorp/*
# Allowed profiles: work
# Mode (strict/warning/advisory): strict
#
# ✓ Policy "acme-corp" created

How It Works

Profiles are stored in ~/.gitprofiles:

[profile "personal"]
  name = Alice
  email = alice@gmail.com

[profile "work"]
  name = Alice
  email = alice@acmecorp.com
  signingkey = ABC123

When you run git profile use work, the tool executes:

git config user.name "Alice"
git config user.email "alice@acmecorp.com"

That's it. No magic. Git remains the source of truth.

Scope

git profile use work           → .git/config (this repo only)
git profile use work --global  → ~/.gitconfig (all repos without local override)

Policies

Policies prevent using the wrong profile in a repo. Two levels:

User-level (~/.git-profile/policies.yaml):

policies:
  - name: acme-corp
    remotePatterns:
      - "github.com/AcmeCorp/*"
    allowedProfiles:
      - work
    mode: strict

Repo-level (.gitprofile.yml in repo root):

organization: AcmeCorp
allowedProfiles:
  - work
mode: strict

Modes: strict (blocks), warning (asks), advisory (suggests).

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
GITX_PROFILES_PATH	Custom path to profiles file	~/.gitprofiles
GITX_POLICIES_PATH	Custom path to policies file	~/.git-profile/policies.yaml

Roadmap

• Core CLI (add, list, use, current, show, check, remove, doctor)
• --from flag (inherit from global config or existing profile)
• Policy engine (user-level + repo-level)
• CI/CD (GitHub Actions + GoReleaser)
• Remote-based auto-suggestions
• Pre-commit hook integration (git profile enable-guard)
• SSH key switching (v2)
• gitx plugin marketplace (separate project)

Part of the gitx Ecosystem

git-profile is the first tool in a broader vision: gitx — a platform for Git extensions.

Future plugins:

• git-guard — enforce branch and commit policies
• git-doctor — comprehensive Git health diagnostics
• git-secrets — prevent secrets from being committed

Each plugin is standalone, installable via gitx install, and follows Git's native extension pattern.

See idea.md for the full vision.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions, project structure, and guidelines.

License

MIT