Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Start with Test on the account (Git accounts page) or Test login on the server (Hosts page). The message tells you which section below applies.

Git and accounts

Permission denied (publickey)

The server didn't accept any key Lanyard's config offered. Check, in order:

1. The public key is registered with this account. Account's ⋯ → Copy public key, and compare it with the keys in the provider's settings. A key added to your work account won't log you in as personal.
2. The right account is active, or the remote uses the account's alias. Run git remote -v: git@github.com: uses the active account, git@github.com-personal: always uses personal.
3. A passphrase-protected key is loaded. Keys with a passphrase must be in the ssh-agent, or SSH has to prompt for the passphrase, which Test can't do.
4. The key file's permissions. See Bad permissions below.

To see exactly what SSH tries, run ssh -vT git@github.com.

"Connected, but the server did not recognise this key"

The server accepted the connection but doesn't know the key. Hugging Face answers this way (Hi anonymous). Add the public key to the account's SSH key settings, then test again.

Pushes or commits show up as the wrong person

Two separate things decide who you are:

• Who pushes is the SSH key, chosen by the active account or the alias in the remote URL.
• Who authored a commit is git config user.name / user.email, chosen when the commit is made.

Turn on Set the global git identity when this account becomes active for the account (⋯ → Edit), or point the repository at the account with Clone / switch a repository, which also sets the repository's own name and email. Commits you already made keep their old author.

"PTY allocation request failed" when connecting to a git host

Git hosts accept git commands but give you no shell, so Connect doesn't apply to them. Lanyard shows Test (ssh -T) for git hosts instead.

SSH

ssh-agent is not reachable

On Windows the agent is a service that is disabled by default. In PowerShell as Administrator:

Get-Service ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service ssh-agent

macOS and Linux: see ssh-agent.

Asked for my passphrase on every push

Load the key into the agent once: Keys page → key's ⋯ → Add to ssh-agent.

Host key verification failed / REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED

The server's key doesn't match ~/.ssh/known_hosts. If you know why (a reinstall, or an announced key rotation), forget the host and trust it again: Known hosts. If you don't know why, don't connect.

UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE / bad permissions

OpenSSH refuses private keys other users can read. Keys page → key's ⋯ → Restrict permissions to you (or lanyard keys fix-perms <key>).

My edits inside the managed section disappeared

The block between the lanyard managed section markers is regenerated from your accounts on every change. Put your own settings outside the markers, or change the account in Lanyard. See How it works.

OpenSSH rejects my config

Use Raw config → Validate on the Hosts page to see the error. To roll back a change, open Backups and restore the previous version.

Installing and running

Windows: "Windows protected your PC"

The installer isn't code-signed yet. Click More info → Run anyway. Compare the file with SHA256SUMS.txt from the release if you want to check it first:

Get-FileHash .\Lanyard-Setup-*.exe -Algorithm SHA256

macOS: "Lanyard is damaged" or "can't be opened"

The app isn't notarized yet. Right-click it in Applications → Open. If macOS still refuses:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Lanyard.app

lanyard: command not found

• The desktop app doesn't install the command. Install it with npm (Node.js 20+): npm install -g lanyard-cli.
• After installing, open a new terminal; terminals opened earlier keep the old PATH.
• Without installing anything: npx lanyard-cli status.

Lanyard keeps running after I close it

That's the tray. Right-click the tray icon → Quit Lanyard, or turn off Keep running in the tray when closed in Settings.

Still stuck?

Open an issue with the Lanyard version (Settings → About), your OS, and the output of ssh -vT <host>. Remove anything private from the output first.