9/29/2020 Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account - GitHub Docs
Article version: Free, Pro, and Team
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Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account
Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub
account
To configure your GitHub account to use your new (or existing) SSH key,
you'll also need to add it to your GitHub account.
Mac Windows Linux
Before adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account, you should have:
Checked for existing SSH keys
Generated a new SSH key and added it to the ssh-agent
After adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account, you can reconfigure any local repositories
to use SSH. For more information, see "Switching remote URLs from HTTPS to SSH."
Note: DSA keys (SSH-DSS) are no longer supported. Existing keys will continue to function, but you
cannot add new DSA keys to your GitHub account.
1 Copy the SSH key to your clipboard.
If your SSH 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.
$ sudo apt-get install xclip
# Downloads and installs xclip. If you don't have `apt-get`, you might need to use
$ xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
# Copies the contents of the id_rsa.pub file to your clipboard
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Tip: If xclip 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.
3 In the user settings sidebar, click SSH and GPG keys.
4 Click New SSH key or Add SSH key.
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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.
7 Click Add SSH key.
8 If prompted, confirm your GitHub password.
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Further reading
"Authorizing an SSH key for use with SAML single sign-on"
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