# Accessing Git Repos with SSH > Published Dec 12 2018, last updated Jul 07 2026 > By Ryan Fleck and written without LLMs! > Original post at > An article of astonishing quality and insight. Happy Hacking! SSH keys provide a convenient way to authenticate and interact securely with a git server. GitHub strongly recommends using SSH, and so do I. To generate a key, you'll need to open a console window. If using Windows, you'll need to utilize the `PuTTY` tool to generate a key pair. If using a good operating system, enter the following, replacing the generic email with your own: ```sh ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "email@email.com" ``` Running this will prompt you to enter a password. Save the key in the suggested location. Once generated, add the key to your ssh service by entering the following to start the service and add the key: ```sh eval "$(ssh-agent -s)" ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa ``` The public key is stored as a text file in `~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub`. It can now be added to your repository service for secure access. For example, the key can be used with Github to clone and push to repositories: ```sh # Ensure your global git configs are set: git config --global user.name "First Last" git config --global user.email "email@email.com" git config --global core.editor "vim" # Now you can add repos, like so: git clone ssh://git@github.com/RyanFleck/School.git git clone ssh://git@github.com/RyanFleck/Projects.git ``` The first time a repository is cloned from a new address, you will be asked if the address is correct to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. If the address of your remote changes, you will be prompted again. Now, you won't need to enter a username (and optionally, password,) every time you push a commit to your repository. This small step, along with some scripts to rush the add/commit process, have likely saved me hundreds of hours. _Enjoy._ **R** > Thank you for reading! > Find more content at > Source page: > Site index: [llms.txt](https://ryanfleck.ca/llms.txt)