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Make an SSH key and use it

Make a key on your computer, put it on your server and in the portal, and give your server a short name so you can type ssh web-01.

4 min Updated 7 Nov 2026 VPS, dedicated servers

An SSH key is a pair of files. The public key goes on your server; the private key never leaves your computer. Nobody can guess a key the way they guess a password.

Make a key#

Windows

Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "alex@laptop"

Press Enter to save it in the usual place, C:\Users\alex\.ssh\id_ed25519. Then type a passphrase, twice. A passphrase protects the key if your computer is ever lost or copied.

macOS

Open Terminal and run:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "alex@laptop"

Press Return to save it in the usual place, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519. Then type a passphrase, twice. A passphrase protects the key if your Mac is ever lost or copied.

Linux

Open a terminal and run:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "alex@laptop"

Press Enter to save it in the usual place, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519. Then type a passphrase, twice. A passphrase protects the key if your computer is ever lost or copied.

-C is a label to tell your keys apart. You now have id_ed25519, the private key, and id_ed25519.pub, the public key.

Put the key on your server#

Do this once per server. You'll be asked for the server's password one last time.

Windows

Windows has no ssh-copy-id, so this one line does the same job. Paste it into PowerShell, with your server's address:

type $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub | ssh [email protected] "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

macOS

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub [email protected]

Linux

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub [email protected]

Now connect again. If you set a passphrase, SSH asks for that instead of the server's password:

ssh [email protected]

Each line of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server is a key that may log in. To remove one, delete its line.

Add it to the portal too#

Every new VPS is built with the keys in the portal. Open SSH keys from the side menu and paste the contents of id_ed25519.pub. To print it:

Windows

type $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub

macOS

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Linux

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

See Add an SSH key. A key added there doesn't reach a server you already have until you push it from the server's Access tab: see Add and revoke SSH keys.

Stop typing the passphrase#

An SSH agent holds your unlocked key, so you type the passphrase once per login, not once per connection.

Windows

The agent is built in but off. Open PowerShell as administrator and run:

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

Then, in an ordinary PowerShell window, add your key:

ssh-add $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519

macOS

macOS can keep the passphrase in your keychain:

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Add UseKeychain yes and AddKeysToAgent yes to the Host * part of your config file (next section) and it will be unlocked for you after every restart.

Linux

Most desktops start an agent for you and ask for the passphrase the first time you use the key. If yours doesn't:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Give your server a short name#

A file called config (no extension) in your .ssh folder lets you type ssh web-01 instead of the whole line.

Windows

Open it in Notepad. If it doesn't exist yet, Notepad offers to create it:

notepad $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\config

macOS

Create it if it isn't there, and open it in TextEdit:

touch ~/.ssh/config && open -e ~/.ssh/config

Linux

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add an entry for each server. Host is the short name you'll type:

Host web-01
    HostName 203.0.113.10
    User alex
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Host *
    ServerAliveInterval 60

Save it, and from then on:

ssh web-01

The same name works with scp, rsync and sftp: see Move files to and from your server.

Lost the key?#

Make a new one, and take the old one off every server and out of the portal. Can't log in at all? Use the console on the server's page: see Locked out of SSH.

Running your server Connect with SSH Open a terminal on your own computer, log in to your server, and know what the first-connection question means.Running your server Secure a new server The first half hour on a new server: updates, your own user, key-only SSH, a firewall, fail2ban and automatic security updates.Account Add an SSH key Save your public key once, and it goes on every server you build from then on.VPS Add and revoke SSH keys Put your account's SSH keys on a running server, see which keys it has, and remove every key at once.

Still stuck? Open a ticket and say which guide you followed.