🔐 GitHub SSH Setup Guide (Personal Account)

This guide helps you configure SSH on your system to securely connect to your personal GitHub account.

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🎯 Goal

Enable secure and password-less access to GitHub using SSH on a single system.

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✅ Prerequisites

• Git Bash (Windows) or Terminal (Mac/Linux)
• GitHub account (we're setting up SSH for your personal account)
• Internet access

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🪜 Step 1: Check for Existing SSH Keys

ls ~/.ssh

Why: Ensures no existing SSH keys (like id_ed25519) will be overwritten.

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🪜 Step 2: Generate a New SSH Key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com"

• -t ed25519: Modern, secure key type
• -C: Adds your email to help identify the key

You'll be prompted:

Enter file in which to save the key (/c/Users/YOURNAME/.ssh/id_ed25519):

👉 Press Enter to accept the default location.

Then:

Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:

👉 Press Enter twice to skip passphrase (recommended for simplicity)

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🪜 Step 3: Start the SSH Agent and Add the Key

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Why: Loads your SSH key into memory so Git can use it without prompting.

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🪜 Step 4: Copy Your Public Key

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

👉 Copy the full output that starts with ssh-ed25519 and ends with your email.

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🪜 Step 5: Add the SSH Key to GitHub

1. Go to GitHub SSH Keys
2. Click "New SSH key"
3. Add:
   • Title: e.g., CMS-PC
   • Key: Paste the key from Step 4
4. Click "Add SSH key"

Why: Tells GitHub that your computer is authorized to access your repositories.

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🪜 Step 6: Test the SSH Connection

ssh -T git@github.com

If successful, you'll see:

Hi your-username! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

If prompted:

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

👉 Type yes and press Enter

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🪜 Step 7: Use SSH to Clone or Connect Repos

To clone a repo:

1. Go to the repo on GitHub
2. Click "Code" → select SSH
3. Run:

git clone git@github.com:your-username/your-repo.git

To set SSH remote for an existing repo:

cd your-project-folder
git remote set-url origin git@github.com:your-username/your-repo.git

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✅ You're Done!

You can now push/pull/clone repos from your personal GitHub account using SSH — no username/password required.

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📌 Next Steps (Optional)

• Want to set up a second GitHub (e.g., work/org) account on the same system?
• Need SSH config to manage both accounts at once?

Let us know and continue with the advanced setup guide.