Agentic Git Identity

Configure cmux to use a separate Git identity for AI-generated commits, making it easy to distinguish between human and AI contributions. Reasons to use a separate identity include:

• Clear attribution
• Preventing (accidental) destructive actions
• Enforcing review flow, e.g. preventing AI from merging into main while allowing humans

Setup Overview

1. Create a GitHub account for your agent (e.g., username-agent)
2. Generate a Classic GitHub token
3. Configure Git to use the agent identity
4. Configure Git credentials to use the token

Step 1: Create Agent GitHub Account

Create a separate GitHub account for your agent:

1. Sign up at github.com/signup
2. Use a distinctive username (e.g., yourname-agent, yourname-ai)
3. Use a separate email (GitHub allows plus-addressing: yourname+ai@example.com)

Note: This is optional but recommended. You can also use your main account with a different email/name.

Step 2: Generate Classic GitHub Token

Classic tokens are easier to configure than fine-grained tokens for repository access.

1. Log into your agent GitHub account
2. Go to Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
3. Click "Generate new token (classic)"
4. Configure the token:
   • Note: "cmux agent token" (or similar)
   • Expiration: Choose based on your security preferences
   • Scopes: Select repo (Full control of private repositories)
5. Click "Generate token"
6. Copy the token immediately - you won't see it again

Step 3: Configure Git Identity

Add the Git identity environment variables as Project Secrets in cmux:

1. Open cmux and find your project in the sidebar
2. Click the 🔑 key icon to open the secrets modal
3. Add the following four secrets:
   • GIT_AUTHOR_NAME = Your Name (Agent)
   • GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL = yourname+ai@example.com
   • GIT_COMMITTER_NAME = Your Name (Agent)
   • GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL = yourname+ai@example.com
4. Click "Save"

These environment variables will be automatically injected when the agent runs Git commands in that project.

Note: If you need the agent identity outside of cmux, you can alternatively set these as global environment variables in your shell configuration (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, etc.)

Step 4: Configure GitHub Authentication

Install GitHub CLI

If you don't have it:

# macOS
brew install gh

# Windows
winget install --id GitHub.cli

# Linux
# See https://github.com/cli/cli/blob/trunk/docs/install_linux.md

Configure Git Credential Helper

Set up Git to use the GitHub CLI for authentication. The recommended approach is to use gh auth setup-git, which scopes the credential helper to GitHub only:

# Configure gh as credential helper for GitHub (recommended)
gh auth setup-git

This configures Git to use gh for GitHub authentication while preserving your existing credential helpers for other Git hosts.

Alternative: Manual configuration (for advanced users)

If you need more control or want to completely replace existing credential helpers:

# Scope to GitHub only (preserves other credential helpers)
git config --global credential.https://github.com.helper '!gh auth git-credential'

# OR: Replace all credential helpers (may break non-GitHub authentication)
git config --global --unset-all credential.helper
git config --global credential.helper ""
git config --global --add credential.helper '!gh auth git-credential'

⚠️ Warning: The "replace all" approach will disable platform keychain helpers and may break Git authentication for non-GitHub remotes (GitLab, Bitbucket, etc.).