Git — Per-Remote Identity with includeIf

Git's includeIf directive in .gitconfig applies a supplemental config file only when a condition matches. The hasconfig:remote.*.url variant matches on the remote URL of the current repository, making it possible to automatically switch git identities (email, signing key, etc.) based on whether a repo is hosted on GitHub vs Bitbucket or any other remote — without any per-repo manual config.

Key Points

includeIf "hasconfig:remote.*.url:*github.com*" matches any repo with a GitHub remote — applies a separate .gitconfig-github file automatically
Eliminates the need to run git config user.email in every new personal repo — the correct identity is applied by remote URL
The condition uses glob-style wildcards: *github.com* matches both https://github.com/... and git@github.com:...
More robust than includeIf "gitdir:~/projects/personal/" (directory-based) — works regardless of where the repo is cloned
Order matters: the included file is applied after the main config, so it overrides values in .gitconfig

Details

The Problem This Solves

Working with multiple git identities (work email for Bitbucket/Oliver repos, personal email for GitHub) previously required remembering to run git config user.email in each new personal repo. Forgetting resulted in commits to GitHub attributed to the work email. Remote-based includeIf makes this automatic and invisible.

`.gitconfig` Setup

# ~/.gitconfig — main config (default = work identity)
[user]
    name = Vadym Samoilenko
    email = vadymsamoilenko@oliver.agency

# Override with personal identity for GitHub repos
[includeIf "hasconfig:remote.*.url:*github.com*"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-github

# ~/.gitconfig-github — personal identity
[user]
    email = samoylenko.vadym@gmail.com

After this setup, any repo with a github.com remote automatically uses the personal email. Bitbucket, internal GitLab, and other remotes use the default work email.

Verifying the Correct Identity

# In a GitHub repo
git config user.email
# → samoylenko.vadym@gmail.com

# In a Bitbucket/work repo
git config user.email
# → vadymsamoilenko@oliver.agency

SSH Key Separation (Complementary)

includeIf handles commit identity (who authored the commit). SSH key selection (which credential is used to authenticate the push) is handled separately in ~/.ssh/config:

# ~/.ssh/config
Host github.com
    HostName github.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_github

Host bitbucket.org
    HostName bitbucket.org
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_bitbucket

Both pieces are needed: includeIf for commit metadata, ~/.ssh/config for authentication.

Alternative: Directory-Based includeIf

If the remote URL approach is too broad, a directory-based condition is more explicit:

[includeIf "gitdir:~/personal/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-github

This applies the override only to repos inside ~/personal/. The downside: repos cloned anywhere else won't get the override automatically.

Migration: Adding includeIf to an Existing Config

When migrating from a single identity to multiple identities:

Set the work email as the default in ~/.gitconfig
Create ~/.gitconfig-github with the personal email
Add the includeIf block to ~/.gitconfig
Verify in an existing GitHub repo: git config user.email

Past commits already made with the wrong email are not affected — includeIf only applies to future commits.

wiki/concepts/fish-shell-path-config — SSH aliases as Fish functions complement this SSH config approach
wiki/concepts/remote-server-dotfiles-bootstrap — dotfiles migration context where this pattern was configured
wiki/concepts/bitbucket-mcp-atlassian — Bitbucket identity context (one of the two remotes managed by this config)

Sources

daily/2026-04-23.md — New workstation SSH/git migration session: git identity split required between vadymsamoilenko@oliver.agency (Bitbucket/work) and samoylenko.vadym@gmail.com (GitHub); includeIf "hasconfig:remote.*.url:*github.com*" selected as the mechanism

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