ssh-keys.md

SSH Keys allow you to connect to GitHub without entering a username and password. Some sites, like GitHub, let you choose which authentication mechanism you want to use, but our GitHub requires SSH Keys. Creating your own is simple.

Generate your key

In your terminal, run

ssh-keygen

There are three prompts to skip:

1. Choosing a custom file name.
2. Putting a password on your key.
3. Confirming your password.

So hit enter three times to skip these three prompts. Your key has been generated!

Uploading to GitHub

First, copy the key to your clipboard so you can easily paste it. You can do this from the terminal:

MacOS: pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Git Bash on Windows: cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | clip

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

Now, go to github.com and login. Click on your avatar in the top right and click "Settings" in the dropdown. Select the "SSH and GPG Keys" Menu on the left. Click "New SSH Key", paste your key into the box and click "Add SSH Key".

Testing

To test if your key worked, run the following command in your terminal:

ssh -T git@github.com

You should see a welcome message. If not, ask for help in the #help channel in Slack.