Setting user name, email and GitHub token

This guide covers basic git settings you should set before making any commits.

Please note that config changes will only affect future commits. Existing commits will retain the info they were committed with. Also, the environment variables GIT_COMMITTER_NAME, GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL, GIT_AUTHOR_NAME and GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL will override git-config settings if they are defined.

Setting user name and email globally in git

Git needs to know your username and email address to properly credit your commits. Setting this setting will also let GitHub link the commits you make to your GitHub account. Only commits made after you change this setting will use the new info, old commits will preserve the info they were committed with.

The “email” setting does not have to be a valid email address, it only need match the “user@server” naming scheme.

$ git config --global user.name "Tekkub"
$ git config --global user.email "tekkub@gmail.com"

Overriding settings for individual repos

If you do not want commits to be “blamed” on your global email setting, you can override these settings on a per-repo basis.

$ cd my_other_repo
$ git config user.name "Not Tekkub"
$ git config user.email "not@tekkub.net"

GitHub token config

Some tools connect to GitHub without SSH, for these tools you need to set your local GitHub config. You can find your token at the top of the account page

$ git config --global github.user tekkub
$ git config --global github.token 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef

If you change your GitHub password a new token will be created, therefore you’ll need to change this setting.