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What you’ll need

Make sure you have:
  • An active Compute instance
  • Your instance ID (from the Hivenet dashboard)
  • Your private SSH key (.pem or .ed25519 file you downloaded)
  • A Mac with Terminal (you’ll find it in Spotlight)

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Step 1: Find your instance ID

In the Hivenet dashboard, copy your instance ID (looks like ba184ade-84ed...). You’ll use this when connecting.

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Step 2: Open Terminal

Press Cmd + Space, type Terminal, and hit Return to open it. To keep things tidy and secure, move your downloaded key to your Mac’s SSH folder. In Terminal, run these commands one by one: 
mkdir -p ~/.ssh                # Make the SSH folder if it doesn’t exist
chmod 700 ~/.ssh               # Lock the folder so only you can open it
mv ~/Downloads/your-key.pem ~/.ssh/     # Move your downloaded key
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/your-key.pem  # Lock the key file
Replace /path/to/your-key.pem with the actual path to the key you downloaded.

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Step 4: Connect to your instance

Copy your instance ID from the Hivenet dashboard. Then run: 
ssh -i /path/to/your-key.pem [email protected]
  1. Replace /path/to/your-key.pem with your key file location
  2. Replace your-instance-id with the full ID (something like ba184ade-84ed...)
  3. The default username is ubuntu

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Step 5: Accept the connection

On first connect, you’ll see a message like: 
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
Type yes and hit Return.

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You’re in

You’ll land in your instance’s terminal, ready to install packages, run apps, or start a Jupyter notebook.
If you already use 1Password, you can store and use SSH keys directly—no need to manage files or worry about permissions. Here’s how SSH with 1Password works.

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Troubleshooting tips

  • Permission denied (publickey)?
    • Make sure the path to your .pem file is correct and that it’s set to chmod 600.
  • Connection times out?
    • Try restarting your instance. Some networks block SSH—if this keeps happening, ask us for help with an alternate connection method.