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Using the GitHub CLI across GitHub platforms

Learn how to run commands when you are authenticated to accounts on different {% data variables.product.github %} platforms.

Accounts across platforms

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If you have accounts on multiple {% data variables.product.github %} platforms, such as a personal account on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %} and a {% data variables.enterprise.prodname_managed_user %} on {% data variables.enterprise.data_residency_site %}, you can authenticate with gh auth login for each account.

You'll need to authenticate to run any commands in a given environment. For example, even if you're running a command that only requires read access to a public repository on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}, you won't be able to use this command if you're only authenticated to an account on {% data variables.enterprise.data_residency_site %}. You should therefore authenticate to all accounts you want to use with the {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %}.

How do I run commands for each account?

Once you've authenticated with multiple accounts, when you run a command, the {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} can sometimes automatically detect which platform you're trying to access. In other cases, you'll need to provide more information in your command.

The {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} automatically detects your intended account when you're in the context of a specific repository. For example, if you cd into your my-repo directory and run gh repo view, the command will target the correct platform for that repository.

The {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} can't automatically detect your intended account when it doesn't have this context. For example, if you run gh repo list to list repositories for your account, the {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} won't know which account you want to access. In cases like this:

The {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} will default to {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}.
You can set the GH_HOST environment variable to change the default target for these kinds of requests. See gh environment in the {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} manual.
Some commands allow you allow you to specify your target environment with the --hostname option, such as gh api, or pass the full URL for a repository, such as gh pr view.

Can I use multiple accounts on the same platform?

You can also authenticate with multiple accounts on the same platform. To switch between these accounts, you can use the gh auth switch command. See gh auth switch in the {% data variables.product.prodname_cli %} manual.