I’m trying to set up Git with SSH for better security and automation, but I’m not exactly sure where in the GitLab interface I should go to GitLab add SSH key.
Now I’m stuck on the GitLab side. Where exactly do I paste the public key, and do I need to configure anything else (like key permissions or repo settings) to make it work?
Would appreciate any help or screenshots from someone who has recently done the GitLab add SSH key setup.
I’ve set this up countless times in my dev career, so here’s the straightforward way to handle GitLab add SSH key.
Head over to GitLab → User Settings → SSH Keys. You’ll find it under your profile icon in the top-right corner. There’s a big text box where you paste your public key (e.g. ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub or whichever key you’re using).
Make sure you copy the entire public key string—including the ssh-rsa (or ssh-ed25519) prefix and your email at the end. You can even set an expiration date if you’d like the key to auto-expire for security.
Hit Add key, and you’re set. No need to tweak repository settings unless you’re cloning via HTTPS instead of SSH.
Totally agree with @macy-davis super important info. From my experience, though, a lot of folks forget one key step before GitLab add SSH key: actually generating the key in the first place.
If your file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub doesn’t exist, generate a new key with:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
Then copy it to your clipboard with either:
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | pbcopy # macOS
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | xclip # Linux
Head back to GitLab → Profile → Preferences → SSH Keys, and paste it there.
Finally, test that it works with:
ssh -T git@gitlab.com
If you see “Welcome to GitLab, username!”, you’ve nailed the GitLab add SSH key process.”
That’s spot-on from @dimplesaini.230! I’ve been working with multiple git providers for years, and one thing I’d add to the whole GitLab add SSH key conversation is dealing with multiple keys.
If you have separate SSH keys for different services (like one for GitHub and another for GitLab), create an entry in your ~/.ssh/config so your system knows which key to use for GitLab:
Host gitlab.com
HostName gitlab.com
User git
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_gitlab_rsa
Then go back to GitLab → Profile → Settings → SSH Keys and paste in the public part of your GitLab key (id_gitlab_rsa.pub).
Also, double-check permissions: the .ssh folder should be 700 and the private key files should be 600. Misconfigured permissions can silently cause the GitLab add SSH key step to fail.
Once all that’s done, your Git operations via SSH should work without a hitch.