Introduction

For developers working with multiple Git repositories across various hosts, managing SSH keys efficiently is crucial. This article will guide you through organizing SSH keys in a custom folder and configuring each key for a specific Git host.

Custom SSH Key Directory: git_keys:
Instead of storing SSH keys directly in ~/.ssh, you might prefer to organize them in a custom subdirectory, like ~/.ssh/git_keys. This approach helps in managing multiple keys clearly and systematically.

Steps

Step 1: Generating SSH Keys

If you haven't already, generate a new SSH key for each Git host:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]" -f ~/.ssh/git_keys/git_host_key

Replace [email protected] with your email and git_host_key with a descriptive name for each key. This creates a new key in the git_keys folder.

Step 2: Adding Keys to the SSH Agent

To use these keys, add them to your SSH agent:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/git_keys/git_host_key

Replace git_host_key with the name of your key file.

Step 3: SSH Config for Multiple Git Hosts

Configure your SSH client to use different keys for different hosts by editing the ~/.ssh/config file:

# Configuration for GitHost1
Host githost1.com
HostName githost1.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/git_keys/githost1_key
# Configuration for GitHost2
Host githost2.com
HostName githost2.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/git_keys/githost2_key

Replace githost1.com and githost2.com with your actual Git server addresses, and githost1_key, githost2_key with the respective key filenames.

Step 4: Adding Your SSH Key to the Git Server

For each Git server:

1. Copy the public SSH key from ~/.ssh/git_keys/your_key.pub.
2. On the Git server's website, navigate to SSH key settings in your user profile.
3. Add your SSH key.

Conclusion

By organizing SSH keys into a custom git_keys directory and configuring each key for specific Git hosts, you can manage multiple repositories across different platforms efficiently and securely.