Setting up SSH Keys on Mac for Github
Tags: ssh, github, mac
Published: 2022-12-04 19:24:51

This tutorial assumes that you have not set up SSH keys in your machine(mac) before. Right now this tutorial only focuses on mac since that's what I am using. 

- The first thing to do is to create ssh keys in your machine. In mac, make sure you are on the home directory i.e: `/users/pratikthapa`. 
 When you run this, it creates a new key that you can now use. 
```zsh
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C your.email.address@mail.com
```

> Here:
>  `-t ed25519` is the type of encryption we are using. If you machine is not compatible with this encryption, you can also use `rsa`. Read full documentation [here](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh)
> `-C` is the contact email associated with the key we are creating. 

- Location: 
  After running the command above, it will ask where do you want to save this. Just hit enter. 
  
- Passphrase: 
	- Hit enter for no passphrase. 
	- If you enter a passphrase in this step, it provides extra securtiy but github will frequently ask you to enter this exact passphrase during pull/push of repo. You can also save this passphrase in the keychain, so you don't have to enter it every single time.

- Now that you've created ssh keys, you need to make sure your system's ssh agent knows about it. It's like a wallet that holds multiple identity cards. To do that, in the same terminal, run 

```zsh
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
```

This should print out something like this in the terminal. 
```zsh
Agent pid 12345
```
If you see this, it means that the machine's ssh agent was able to read/evaluate the ssh key. 

- Now, we need to put the key into the system's ssh agent. Think of it as putting the id in the wallet so that we can present it whenever it is necessary.  

First make sure if the ssh-agent exists in your mac already. To see it, run 
```zsh
~.ssh/config
```
> Here, `~` represent the home directory. 

if the ssh-agent is not present you should see, `zsh: no such file or directory: /Users/pratikthapa/.ssh/config`

To make sure that the file does not exists visually, run 
```zsh
ls -a
```

When you are sure that the `.ssh/config` is not present, run the following commad to create it. 
```zsh
touch ~/.ssh/config
```

- Now the file is created, edit the ssh-agent. Create the wallet to put the id 😉 

```zsh
	vim ~/.ssh/config
```

To add your private key to the ssh agent type 

```Text
HOST *
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
```

> Here: 
> `/.ssh/` is the folder name 
> `id_ed25519` is the file that was created in step 1. 

If you used the passphrase in passphrase section above do the following to add your passphrase to the keychain.   

```Text
HOST *
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed2
  UseKeychain yes
```

Then, save and quit vim 
- press `esc` in your keyboard. 
- type: `:wq` to write/save and quit out of vim.  

> Instead of vim you can also use other tools like visual studio code to edit the file. 
> Open the file using `code ~/.ssh/config` and follow the same steps above.  Or you  can simply navigate to the folder, press `command + shift + .` to see the hideen files and open the config file manually with vs code.  

- Finally add the id into the wallet. Or Add the ssh key into the file we created. 

```zsh
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
```

- That's it. Now, you need to navigate to github and add your ssh keys there. Basically, presenting your id to github. 
	- Open `github.com` and `login`
	- Navigate to `settings`
	- Click on `SSH and GPG keys`
	- Click on `New SSH key` button. 
	- On the title, write the machine name or whatever you want to identify where the ssh key is coming from and what kind it is. 
	- On the key section paste the ssh key from the machine. 
		- First you need to read the file. Run, `cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub`. 
		  ⚠️ Here, `.pub` means public key. 
		  - copy the key and paste it. 
	- Click `Add SSH Key`.
	- Github will likely ask for your account password. 
		- Enter your password and you are done. 


- To test if the ssh key is working, go to the terminal and type 

```zsh
ssh -T git@github.com
```

You should see something like this in the terminal

```zsh
The authenticity of host 'github.com ***'......
You have successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.
```


That's it!

I am new to this process, feel free to critique me in the comments if what I am saying is wrong.