How to Create SSH Keys

The recommendation now is to use ED25519 whenever you can.

Commands

Using ED25519

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

Using RSA

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

-C is optional, if not used then the login and machine name is going to be used instead.

Use -b to specify key size.

Ways to create SSH keys on macOS

On Mac OSX and Linux

You just get to Terminal and start typing:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

You can use either your email address as label or anything that can be used to remind you what you use the SSH key for.

On PC

You need to download an external client such as puttygen (from putty) or if you have GIT, you can use the bash shell interface as well and the command is the same.

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

Adding the Key

eval $(ssh-agent -s)

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_keys

To see the Keys

ssh-add -l

To copy key to clipboard:

$ pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_keys.pub

Further Reading

PuTTY: a free SSH and Telnet client
Git
SSH key-type, rsa, dsa, ecdsa, are there easy answers for which to choose when?
Use SSH keys to communicate with GitLab