This is the wrong file. You should not see “-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----”, only the characters of the key itself.

What you are looking for is id_ed25519.pub

@jcdevilleres Nice invention. I think the reason for the two keys is, the one without the .pub extension is meant for your private/internal use; for enabling or activating the ssh-agent. Then the other with the .pub extension is meant for public use (activation), this is the reason why when one tries to use the private key on GitHub.com it throws an "invalid key" error. Thanks.

Hi All- How do I find my key? i.e. i created a key in my terminal and it is a .ssh/id_ed25519; but where do I find the 68 digit key? I see something called key fingerprint which starts SHA256 and ends with my email. would this be the key? if so, whats the format to enter?

If your private key is in .ssh/id_ed25519, the matching public key should be in .ssh/id_ed25519.pub. The fingerprint is different, it’s just a hash to identify the key, not the key itself.

Hello, for me I have been unable to add the sshkey, I have tried as everyone has stated but it is not working. My ssh key is ssh/id_ed25519 . I have tried placing it with pub as stated but still it is invalid. How do i get the 68 digit.

id_ed25519 is the name of the file for your private key, not the key itself. The public key should be an 80 characters within the id_ed25519.pub file. Do you see both of these files within the ssh directory?

Not really…how do I get it

First make sure you are in the correct directory “/.ssh” for me this was in “/home/pi/.ssh”. Once there, list the directory structure. For unix the command is “ls” for windows it is “dir”. You should see two files listed “id_ed25519.pub” and “id_ed25519”

HI @GustavoTijerino1,

I would recommend you try following the steps exactly detailed in the document link below.
connecting-to-github-with-ssh
If you then still experience a problem it will be much easier to determine the cause. In most cases following these instructions exactly will solve your problems.

just coming here to tell you that Github doesn't accept EDDSA keys with 448 bit length (ED448). Changing to Ed25519 (255 bit) fixed this issue for me

1.Type "cat" followed by Your public key has been saved in "/home/pando-user/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub" (cat /home/pando-user/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub) and click enter
2. Copy the ssh key from terminal and paste it in github "https://github.com/settings/ssh/new"
3. Enter title and click on "Add ssh key"

You should also check how you copy the public ssh key. When I opened the .pub file with emacs, it added an extra "/" showing that the content continues in the next line unfortunately it gets copied with the key. But when you use vim or nano, it doesn't add the extra slash and it gets the correct ssh key.

just had the same issue. It was solved by copying ALL that was shown after running "cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub", ex:
ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZAAArew^$3IGDxzbMrERN43t3@vSfs9n3Z36MBh6ZkY9-7 your_name@your_email.com
I was just copying the AAA...leaving out the ssh and email at the end, those should go to.

Hope this helps!

In my case it is showing"key is invalid.you must supply a key in OpenSSH public key format."
The fomat I have copied is clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

I was using ubuntu 20.04 on a new install and got this error after having saved A LOT of keys previously w/no problem. My usual process is:

ssh-keygen  # accept all of the defaults
head ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub  # then copy the line returned, which should not have line breaks

• This failed with the error which is the topic for this thread.

What Worked

ssh-keygen  # accept all defaults
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub  # then copy this string and paste in- from the id-rsa begining to the email at the end

• And success saving the github

Odd, b/c I have used head for years, with no problem. Anyhow, hope this might be helpful to someone as it is a quick fix.

How do i use this: usage: ssh public key scanner [-h] [-f F] [-i I] [-p P] [-t]

I was copying the key from the .pub file and wasn't working, a solution that worked for me:

Open PuTTy Key Generator -> click Load -> select your .pub file -> it should load the public key at the top, and in the correct format that you can paste in GitHub

It appears that there might be an issue with the formatting or an extra character in your SSH key when adding it to your GitHub account. Let's troubleshoot:

1. Verify Key Format:

   • Ensure that you are copying the entire public key, including the ssh-ed25519 at the beginning.
   • Double-check for any additional characters or spaces at the beginning or end of the key.

2. Copy-Paste Carefully:

   • Copy the SSH key directly from your terminal, ensuring you capture the entire key without any line breaks or additional characters.

3. Manual Copy-Paste:

   • Instead of copying directly from the terminal, try manually copying the key and pasting it into the GitHub SSH key settings.

4. Use the Correct Key:

   • Confirm that you are adding the public key (id_ed25519.pub or similar), not the private key.

5. Regenerate SSH Key:

   • If the issue persists, try regenerating a new SSH key and adding the new one to your GitHub account.

After checking these steps, attempt to add the SSH key again. If the problem continues, please share the exact public key you are trying to add, making sure to remove any sensitive information. This way, I can assist you more effectively.

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