Managing SSH Keys

Before requesting an SSH certificate from the Certificate Authority, you must register your public key in your account profile.

Key Requirements

The platform strictly enforces the following constraints:

• Algorithm: ssh-ed25519 exclusively. (RSA, DSA, and ECDSA keys are rejected).
• Public Key Only: Never upload private keys. Only paste your .pub file content.
• Fingerprint Uniqueness: SHA-256 fingerprints are indexed to prevent duplicate key registrations across accounts.

Generating an Ed25519 Keypair

If you do not already have an Ed25519 key, generate one with OpenSSH’s ssh-keygen:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "alice@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

This command creates two files on your machine:

• ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (Private key — keep secret!)
• ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (Public key — this is what you register)

Display your public key content:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Output format:

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIGfX04J5k0FvC78sT5M0tD94YvF5Jg... alice@example.com

Registering via the Dashboard

1. In the dashboard, navigate to Account -> SSH Keys (/account/ssh).

2. Click Add SSH Key.

3. Enter a label (e.g., "Work Laptop M3").

4. Paste the single-line string from ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub into the Public Key field.

5. Click Save Key.

The dashboard validates that the public key is a valid Ed25519 key, computes its SHA-256 fingerprint, and adds it to your registered keys.

Removing an SSH Key

To remove an obsolete or replaced key:

1. Navigate to Account -> SSH Keys.
2. Locate the key in the list.
3. Click the delete (trash) icon and confirm removal.