Set up GitHub push with SSH keys

Set up GitHub push with SSH keys.md

SSH keypair setup for GitHub (or GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket, etc, etc)

Create a repo.

Make sure there is at least one file in it (even just the README.md)

Generate a SSH key pair (private/public):

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "your_email@example.com"

or even better:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

It also possible to use ed25519. There are pros and cons, but personally I've had some issues and that is the reason I've chosen to stick to 4096 rsa for now.

Copy the contents of the public SSH key

macOS:

pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

GNU/Linux (requires the xclip package):

xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Windows Command Line:

type %userprofile%\.ssh\id_rsa.pub | clip

Git Bash on Windows / Windows PowerShell:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | clip

or ofcourse copy it via your favorite editor, cat, or whatever suits your needs :)

Copy the public SSH key to GitHub

Copy the contents of the to your SSH keys to your GitHub account settings (https://github.com/settings/keys).

Test the SSH key:

ssh -T git@github.com

Change directory into the local clone of your repository (if you're not already there) and run:

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:username/your-repository.git

Now try editing a file (try the README) and then do:

git add -A
git commit -am "Update README.md"
git push

Add the key to the ssh-agent

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

You should not be asked for a username or password. If it works, your SSH key is correctly configured.

I ran the ssh test and it ran as expected but when I run:
git push
I get the following response:
remote: Support for password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021.
remote: Please see https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/about-remote-repositories#cloning-with-https-urls for information on currently recommended modes of authentication.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/ctimmer/poll-looper/'

Why is the new authentication (ssh) being recognized? What am I missing?

Thanks,
Curt

Do a git remote and make sure is includes SSH URLS.

There can be different endpoints for your repo, one is for the old password now deprecated way (https), the other is for SSH.. you can see the URL as different for both.

Go to your repo and click clone, select SSH, copy these URLS and change your remote on your repo.
Hope this makes sense.

Is this what you mean "git remote"? This is all that was displayed:
git remote get-url --all origin
https://github.com/ctimmer/poll-looper

Doesn't appear to be an SSH url. Where do I click "clone"?

Thanks
Curt

Got it wasn't using the SSH url. Thanks for the help

Curt

Hello Everyone,

Thank you very much for this thread. I am a beginner using github. I have successfully used in the past following instructions (and even set up the key in the past). However, I had to re-install everything from scratch recently. I have the keys established, but for some reason, I cannot link them up with my local instance of git and the online instance.

I am following all of the instructions here, but I keep getting asked for a user name and password.

When I do ssh -T git@github.com, I get:
Offending key for IP in ... (gives directory)
Matching host key in ... (gives directory)
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

When I select yes, it does recognize me. As far as I can tell, it appears my old key is trying to be used versus the new key.

It is mildly annoying as I managed this once before, but cannot accomplish the task again, even with the various support threads.

Thank you for your time and help!
Geoffrey

As a quick follow-up, it is clear that something is not being connected as when I check my SSH keys on github, neither have been used today. So, my problem may be further back than I first thought.

I got "Hi Moawyah-AbdulRahman! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.", then tried pushing, but got this massage "remote: Support for password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021.".

I had an SSH connection issue, solved thanks to git - ssh: connect to host github.com port 22: Connection timed out - Stack Overflow:

cat >>~/.ssh/config <<CONFIG
Host github.com
 Hostname ssh.github.com
 Port 443
CONFIG

REALLY thanks, i was struggling to commit using ssh

REALLY Thank's a lot. I was struggling with ssh for month...
You made my day!!!

REALLY Thank's a lot. I was struggling with ssh for month... You made my day!!!

Great!

Clear message, very helpful. Thank you.

thanks!

I think you have to tell git to use ssh.. this stuff annoys me so much because I forget all the time.. I'll try and remember and get back to you Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

…

________________________________ From: Moawyah-AbdulRahman ***@***.***> Sent: Tuesday, August 9, 2022 9:34:33 PM To: xirixiz ***@***.***> Cc: Christopher Rollings ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: xirixiz/Set up GitHub push with SSH keys.md @Moawyah-AbdulRahman commented on this gist.

________________________________ I got "Hi Moawyah-AbdulRahman! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.", then tried pushing, but got this massage "remote: Support for password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021.". — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<https://gist.github.com/b6b0c6f4917ce17a90e00f9b60566278#gistcomment-4261499>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABOHIG4WSBKFMQOXX4EE55DVYK6FTANCNFSM4SUDAHRA>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: <xirixiz/Set up GitHub push with SSH ***@***.***>

This is missing: ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
(adding private key to your SSH-agent) As described here: [https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent]
Or else you'll get this error: "Permission denied (publickey)"

@jaibrat updated. Thanks!

Thank you. I had almost everything working but had missed this part:

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:username/your-repository.git

This is really helpful. Thank you for putting the time in for the tut!

When troubleshooting a really unconventional setup of a local gitlab in our environment and with keys configured I found this command on StackOverflow helped me determine that a nonstandard private key/identity file (ie not named id_rsa, id_ecdsa, etc) in the .ssh folder caused the auth to gitlab to fail. The easy fix in my case was to copy the private key into an id_rsa file. Im sure there is an option to specify a specific identity file but I havent checked the manpages yet.

Anyway the verbosity alias for git I used is git -c core.sshCommand="ssh -v" push -u origin master

Thanks a lot, xirixiz.
The native github doc with port 443 is sucks.

Thanks, I was missing this as well!

Thank you. I had almost everything working but had missed this part:

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:username/your-repository.git

If you keep getting prompted for a username and password after following these instructions...

Clone your project using SSH and not HTTPS. (or i guess change the config file in the .git directory).

Then push.

Thank you very much.

thank you!

Thank you!!!

.

If you keep getting prompted for a username and password after following these instructions...

Clone your project using SSH and not HTTPS. (or i guess change the config file in the .git directory).

Then push.

this helped, thanks!

I was using https repo endpoints.. if your using SSH you need the SSH end points. use them when setting origin

You just SAVED my life ! Thanks a ton !

Saved me--I only needed to run the git remote set-url. Thanks!

did not solve my problems, github seems to be changing methods to the extent even full stack developers are complaining, i have done everything correctly but still error

You are a wonder, thank you!