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SSH Git cloning provides a secure way to clone remote repositories. This tutorial shows the complete method of Git cloning using SSH keys - how to generate SSH keys, set up SSH in Git, and use SSH keys for Git cloning.

We also showed some useful options to extend that functionality - cloning just a branch, cloning to a selected directory, or cloning just a few commits for a large repository.

What is SSH

SSH or Secure Shell Protocol is a network protocol for using secure services over an insecure network. It uses a public-private key pair - your private key is only accessible to you when you send your public key to the service you want to use.

Any data encrypted with your public key can only be opened with your private key, and vice versa.

Why use SSH keys to clone Git?

SSH Git Clone provides an easy way to securely clone a remote repository over an insecure public network.

If you use SSH keys for Git cloning, you don't have to re-enter your password every time to identify yourself to the remote server. Once the server authenticates the SSH agent, it remembers the details - you don't have to re-enter your SSH key every time.

Generate SSH key pair

We use ssh key-genthe command to generate an SSH public-private key pair.

ssh key-gen

It will prompt you for a password to protect access to the key on client machines - you can choose to leave it blank, or enter a password of your preference.

Pro Tip: No characters will be displayed as you type your password. This is to hide the length of your password and increase security.

Pro Tip 2: Write down your password somewhere. If you forget it, you will not be able to recover your access.

We leave the command at its default here ssh key-gen, but we can also pass in different options - the encryption algorithm we want (e.g. ed2559), a label, and a specific location to save the key.

Check the saved SSH key pair

Let's check that our SSH keys were generated and saved correctly.

ls -al ~/.ssh

.sshThe keys are stored in a folder on your machine . id_rsaThe file holds your private key, while id_rsa.pubholds your public key.

If you see these two files in the output, you have successfully created and saved an SSH key pair.

Adding SSH keys to the SSH agent

We start the SSH agent as a background process.

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

We see that the agent 970is running as a background process. We add our SSH private key to the SSH agent.

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Identity added : <path_to_private_keyThe agent confirms that it has added the private key with the message .

Add your public key to the remote GitHub account

Copy the public key to your clipboard.

clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Pro Tip: Always copy your KEY. Never share your KEY PUBLICwith anyone .PRIVATE

1. Go to your GitHubAccount.
2. Click 个人资料图片.
3. Select from the drop-down menu 设置.

4. Click in the left column SSH and GPG Keys.

5. Click in the upper-right corner New SSH Key.

6. Add a description and PUBLICpaste the key into Keythe field.

You have now successfully identified your SSH agent with your GitHub account.

Testing the SSH connection to GitHub

We test the SSH connection to GitHub.

ssh -T git@github.com

This message confirms that you have been successfully authenticated.

Using SSH keys to clone a repository in Git

Next, we clone our remote repository using SSH.

1. Copy your repository's SSH URL

In GitHubyour repository, click 代码the green button in the upper right corner.

Click SSHto display your SSH URL. Copy this SSH URL.

2. Git Clone SSH in Git Terminal

Use SSH in the Git terminal to clone the remote.

git clone <remote_repo_ssh_url>

<remote_repo_ssh_url>is the URL you copied above.

You have successfully cloned a repository in Git using SSH keys.

Extending Git Clone SSH with options

You may need to use a specific type of clone for your use case. There are options available to extend Git cloning over SSH.

1. Git Clone SSH Only a specific branch

To clone only one branch using SSH keys:

git clone --branch <branch_to_clone> <remote_repo_ssh_url>

This is very useful in case of large repositories. To save time and space on your local machine, you may want to clone only the branch you work on or clone only a few branches of interest.

2. Use SSH keys to clone Git to a specific location

You may want to clone to a specific folder to keep your local directory structure organized.

To clone to a specific location:

git clone <remote_repo_ssh_url> <specific_location_local>

3. Shallow Git clone using SSH keys - clone only a few commits

For large repositories, you may want to reduce cloning time or save local disk space. You can do this by cloning only a selected set of the last few commits.

To clone only the most recent commits:

git clone --depth=<n> <remote_repo_ssh_url>

Here <n>is the number of the most recent commit you want to clone.

For example, if n = 2, it will clone only the last two commits.