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Enterprise Server 3.0
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Enterprise Server 3.0
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This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2022-02-16. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account

To configure your account on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance to use your new (or existing) SSH key, you'll also need to add the key to your account.

Before adding a new SSH key to your account on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you should have:

After adding a new SSH key to your account on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you can reconfigure any local repositories to use SSH. For more information, see "Switching remote URLs from HTTPS to SSH."

Note: GitHub is improving security by dropping older, insecure key types.

DSA keys (ssh-dss) are no longer supported. Existing keys will continue to function through March 15, 2022. You cannot add new DSA keys to your user account on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance.

RSA keys (ssh-rsa) with a valid_after before November 2, 2021 may continue to use any signature algorithm. RSA keys generated after that date must use a SHA-2 signature algorithm. Some older clients may need to be upgraded in order to use SHA-2 signatures.

  1. Copy the SSH public key to your clipboard.

    If your SSH public key file has a different name than the example code, modify the filename to match your current setup. When copying your key, don't add any newlines or whitespace.

    $ pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# Copies the contents of the id_ed25519.pub file to your clipboard

    Tip: If pbcopy isn't working, you can locate the hidden .ssh folder, open the file in your favorite text editor, and copy it to your clipboard.

  2. In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings.

    Settings icon in the user bar

  3. In the user settings sidebar, click SSH and GPG keys. Authentication keys

  4. Click New SSH key or Add SSH key. SSH Key button

  5. In the "Title" field, add a descriptive label for the new key. For example, if you're using a personal Mac, you might call this key "Personal MacBook Air".

  6. Paste your key into the "Key" field. The key field

  7. Click Add SSH key. The Add key button

  8. If prompted, confirm your GitHub Enterprise Server password. Sudo mode dialog

  1. Copy the SSH public key to your clipboard.

    If your SSH public key file has a different name than the example code, modify the filename to match your current setup. When copying your key, don't add any newlines or whitespace.

    $ clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# Copies the contents of the id_ed25519.pub file to your clipboard

    Tip: If clip isn't working, you can locate the hidden .ssh folder, open the file in your favorite text editor, and copy it to your clipboard.

  2. In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings.

    Settings icon in the user bar

  3. In the user settings sidebar, click SSH and GPG keys. Authentication keys

  4. Click New SSH key or Add SSH key. SSH Key button

  5. In the "Title" field, add a descriptive label for the new key. For example, if you're using a personal Mac, you might call this key "Personal MacBook Air".

  6. Paste your key into the "Key" field. The key field

  7. Click Add SSH key. The Add key button

  8. If prompted, confirm your GitHub Enterprise Server password. Sudo mode dialog

  1. Copy the SSH public key to your clipboard.

    If your SSH public key file has a different name than the example code, modify the filename to match your current setup. When copying your key, don't add any newlines or whitespace.

    $ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# Then select and copy the contents of the id_ed25519.pub file
# displayed in the terminal to your clipboard

    Tip: Alternatively, you can locate the hidden .ssh folder, open the file in your favorite text editor, and copy it to your clipboard.

  2. In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings.

    Settings icon in the user bar

  3. In the user settings sidebar, click SSH and GPG keys. Authentication keys

  4. Click New SSH key or Add SSH key. SSH Key button

  5. In the "Title" field, add a descriptive label for the new key. For example, if you're using a personal Mac, you might call this key "Personal MacBook Air".

  6. Paste your key into the "Key" field. The key field

  7. Click Add SSH key. The Add key button

  8. If prompted, confirm your GitHub Enterprise Server password. Sudo mode dialog

To learn more about GitHub CLI, see "About GitHub CLI."

Before you can use the GitHub CLI to add an SSH key to your account, you must authenticate to the GitHub CLI. For more information, see gh auth login in the GitHub CLI documentation.

To add an SSH key to your GitHub account, use the ssh-key add subcommand, specifying your public key.

gh ssh-key add key-file

To include a title for the new key, use the -t or --title flag.

gh ssh-key add key-file --title "personal laptop"

If you generated your SSH key by following the instructions in "Generating a new SSH key", you can add the key to your account with this command.

gh ssh-key add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub