GitHub SSH Settings for Secure Access

Table of Contents

See also: Connecting to GitHub with SSH - GitHub Docs

Setting Up SSH Keys for GitHub

Environment: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

1. Check for existing SSH keys

ls -al ~/.ssh

If you see files like id_rsa and id_rsa.pub, you already have SSH keys. If not, proceed to the next step.

2. Generate a new SSH key pair

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

You can only enter without input something to the interactive prompts like below:

Enter file in which to save the key:
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:

3. Copy the public key to your clipboard

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

4. Add the SSH key to your GitHub account

  1. Go to Github > Settings > SSH and GPG keys > New SSH key
  2. Paste the copied public key into the “Key” field and give it a title.

5. Test the SSH connection

ssh -T git@github.com

You should see a message like:

Hi username! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.