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Configure mux 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
agentic git identity

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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

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

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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: “mux 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

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Step 3: Configure Git Identity

Add the Git identity environment variables as Project Secrets in mux:
  1. Open mux 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.
If you need the agent identity outside of mux, you can alternatively set these as global environment variables in your shell configuration (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, etc.)

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Step 4: Configure GitHub Authentication

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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

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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'
The “replace all” approach will disable platform keychain helpers and may break Git authentication for non-GitHub remotes (GitLab, Bitbucket, etc.).

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Alternative: Co-Author Attribution

If you prefer to keep using your personal GitHub account but still want clear attribution for AI-generated commits, you can add a Co-authored-by trailer to commits. The simplest approach is to ask the agent via system prompt to include a Co-authored-by: AI Assistant <ai@example.com> trailer in commit messages. This works well in practice since agents generally follow formatting instructions reliably. For guaranteed attribution, you can use Git’s built-in hooks instead:

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Using a Git Hook

Create a prepare-commit-msg hook that adds co-author attribution only when running inside mux: 
#!/bin/bash
# .git/hooks/prepare-commit-msg

COMMIT_MSG_FILE=$1
COMMIT_SOURCE=$2

# Only add co-author when running in mux
if [ -z "$MUX_RUNTIME" ]; then
  exit 0
fi

# Skip merge commits
if [ "$COMMIT_SOURCE" = "merge" ]; then
  exit 0
fi

# Only add if not already present
if ! grep -q "Co-authored-by:" "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE"; then
  echo "" >> "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE"
  echo "Co-authored-by: AI Assistant <ai@example.com>" >> "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE"
fi
Make it executable: 
chmod +x .git/hooks/prepare-commit-msg
This approach uses your normal Git identity for commits, but adds a trailer indicating AI involvement. The hook only activates inside mux workspaces (detected via MUX_RUNTIME).

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Comparison

ApproachProsCons
Separate accountFull separation, branch protection rulesRequires second GitHub account
Co-authored-by hookSingle account, clear attributionLess separation, hook per-repo