Generate a new SSH key
-
Open Terminal.
-
Paste the text below, substituting in your GitHub email address.
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
This creates a new ssh key, using the provided email as a label.
> Generating public/private rsa key pair.
- When you're prompted to “Enter a file in which to save the key,” press Enter. This accepts the default file location.
> Enter a file in which to save the key (/Users/you/.ssh/id_rsa): [Press enter]
- At the prompt, type a secure passphrase. For more information, see “Working with SSH key passphrases”.
> Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): [Type a passphrase]
> Enter same passphrase again: [Type passphrase again]
Add your SSH key to the ssh-agent
- Start the ssh-agent in the background.
$ $ eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
> Agent pid 59566
- If you're using macOS Sierra 10.12.2 or later, you will need to modify your
~/.ssh/configfile to automatically load keys into the ssh-agent and store passphrases in your keychain.
Host *
AddKeysToAgent yes
UseKeychain yes
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
- Add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent and store your passphrase in the keychain. If you created your key with a different name, or if you are adding an existing key that has a different name, replace id_rsa in the command with the name of your private key file.
$ ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa
see more: Connecting to GitHub with SSH
