SSH Setup Guide for GitHub

Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight, type Terminal, and press Enter.

This opens the built-in macOS terminal app. All commands in this section are typed here.

Type this and press Enter:

If Git is already installed, you'll see a version number like git version 2.39.5. You're good, skip to Step 3.

If it's not installed, macOS will pop up a dialog asking to install Command Line Developer Tools. Click Install and wait for it to finish (this can take a few minutes). Once done, run the command again to confirm. This is normal and only happens once.

Paste this command into Terminal, replacing the email with the email tied to your GitHub account:

ssh-keygen generates a new SSH key pair (one public, one private). The -t ed25519 flag picks a modern, secure key type. The -C flag attaches your email as a label so you can identify the key later.

It will ask you a few things:

• "Enter file in which to save the key" - just press Enter to accept the default location.
• "Enter passphrase" - just press Enter twice to skip it (recommended).

You'll see some output including a "randomart image." That means it worked.

Why skip the passphrase? It adds extra security but means typing it every time you push or pull. For personal machines, skipping it is standard practice. Passphrases are more useful in corporate or shared environments.

By default, your key saved to ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 inside your home folder. You do not need to navigate there, but it's good to know.

This step tells macOS to remember your key across restarts. Without it, you'd have to re-add the key every time you reboot.

Run these two commands, one at a time:

touch creates an empty file if it doesn't already exist. The ~/.ssh/ part means "inside the .ssh folder in your home directory."

open launches the file in TextEdit (macOS's built-in text editor).

Paste the following into it:

Save the file (Cmd + S) and close TextEdit.

If you set a passphrase in Step 3, use this version instead (copy and paste it over everything in the file). This stores the passphrase in your macOS Keychain so you don't have to type it every time:

Back in Terminal, run these commands one at a time:

This starts the SSH agent, a small background program that holds your key in memory so you don't have to provide it every time. You should see something like Agent pid 12345.

Now hand your private key to the agent:

ssh-add loads your key into the agent. The path after it tells it which key file to use.

You should see Identity added.

If you set a passphrase in Step 3, use ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 instead. The --apple-use-keychain flag saves your passphrase to macOS Keychain.

pbcopy is a macOS command that copies text to your clipboard (like pressing Cmd+C). The < feeds the contents of the file into it. Nothing will appear in the terminal, but it worked.

You'll paste this into GitHub next.

1. Go to github.com and sign in.
2. Click your profile picture (top right corner) and select Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click SSH and GPG keys.
4. Click the green New SSH key button.
5. For Title, type something you'll recognize (e.g., "MacBook" or "My Laptop").
6. Leave Key type as Authentication Key.
7. Click in the Key field and paste (Cmd + V).
8. Click Add SSH key.

Back in Terminal, run:

ssh -T connects to GitHub as a test. The -T flag means "don't open an interactive session, just check if I can authenticate."

After that, you should see:

That message means it worked. If you see your GitHub username, SSH is set up.

Click the Start menu, type PowerShell, and open Windows PowerShell. All commands in this guide are typed here.

Windows doesn't come with Git, so install it by running:

After it finishes, close and reopen PowerShell so it recognizes the new commands. Then verify it worked:

You should see a version number like git version 2.47.1.windows.1.

If winget is not recognized, your Windows version may be too old. You can download Git manually from git-scm.com instead.

Windows has a built-in SSH agent, but it's turned off by default. You need to enable it once using an admin PowerShell window.

Keep your current PowerShell window open. You'll come back to it after this step. Open a second PowerShell window as administrator: search for PowerShell in the Start menu, right-click Windows PowerShell, and choose Run as administrator.

In the admin PowerShell window, run these two commands one at a time:

This tells Windows to automatically start the SSH agent every time your computer boots up.

This starts the agent right now (instead of waiting for a reboot). Neither command will print anything if it worked. No output means success.

Close the admin window and switch back to your original PowerShell window for the rest of the steps. You only have to do this once. After enabling the service, the SSH agent runs automatically in the background forever.

Paste this command, replacing the email with the email tied to your GitHub account:

ssh-keygen generates a new SSH key pair (one public, one private). The -t ed25519 flag picks a modern, secure key type. The -C flag attaches your email as a label so you can identify the key later.

It will ask you a few things:

• "Enter file in which to save the key" - press Enter to accept the default location.
• "Enter passphrase" - just press Enter twice to skip it (recommended).

You'll see some output including a "randomart image." That means it worked.

Why skip the passphrase? It adds extra security but means typing it every time you push or pull. For personal machines, skipping it is standard practice. Passphrases are more useful in corporate or shared environments.

By default, your key saved to C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\id_ed25519. You don't need to navigate there, but it's good to know.

ssh-add loads your private key into the SSH agent so it can authenticate on your behalf. The path after it points to the key file you just created. $HOME is a variable that expands to your user folder (e.g., C:\Users\YourName).

You should see Identity added. Because you enabled the SSH agent service in Step 2, your key stays loaded even after a reboot.

Git for Windows ships with its own SSH program, which doesn't talk to the Windows SSH agent you just set up. This one-time command tells Git to use the Windows built-in SSH instead:

git config --global saves a setting that applies to all your Git projects. Here, it tells Git which SSH program to use. Without this, Git might fail to find your key.

cat prints the contents of a file, and | clip pipes that output straight to your clipboard (like pressing Ctrl+C). Nothing will appear in PowerShell, but it worked.

You'll paste this into GitHub next.

1. Go to github.com and sign in.
2. Click your profile picture (top right corner) and select Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click SSH and GPG keys.
4. Click the green New SSH key button.
5. For Title, type something you'll recognize (e.g., "Windows Desktop" or "My Laptop").
6. Leave Key type as Authentication Key.
7. Click in the Key field and paste (Ctrl + V).
8. Click Add SSH key.

Back in PowerShell, run:

ssh -T connects to GitHub as a test. The -T flag means "don't open an interactive session, just check if I can authenticate."

After that, you should see:

That message means it worked. If you see your GitHub username, SSH is set up.

1. Go to the repository page on GitHub.
2. Click the green Code button.
3. Select the SSH tab (not HTTPS, not GitHub CLI).
4. Copy the URL. It starts with git@github.com:.

Open your terminal (Terminal on Mac, any terminal on Windows) and use the cd (change directory) command to move into the folder where you want the repo to live.

Start typing a folder name and press Tab to autocomplete it. For example, type cd Des then hit Tab, and it fills in Desktop for you. This works in Terminal, PowerShell, and most other terminals.

For example, to navigate to a folder called "Projects" on your Desktop:

Mac:

Windows:

~ (Mac) and $HOME (Windows) are both shortcuts that mean "my home folder" (e.g., /Users/YourName on Mac or C:\Users\YourName on Windows).

If you're not sure where you are, you can check your current location:

Once you're in the right folder, run:

Replace the URL with the one you copied. This creates a new folder with the repo inside it. To start working in the project:

That's it. No tokens, no passwords, no pop-ups.