How to generate and add an SSH key on macOS

What you’ll need

A Hivenet account with Compute credits ready
macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer
Terminal (built in)
OpenSSH (installed by default)

Step 1 – Create your SSH key pair

Open Terminal.
Run:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519
Press Enter to accept the default location (/Users/<you>/.ssh/id_ed25519).
When prompted, enter a passphrase (optional but recommended).

Already use a password manager? Many, including 1Password and Bitwarden, can create and store SSH keys in one click. If that’s your jam, generate the key there and copy the public part straight from the manager.

The command (or your manager) creates two files:

File	What it is
`id_ed25519`	Your private key — keep it secret
`id_ed25519.pub`	Your public key — you’ll upload this to Hivenet

Step 2 – Find your key files

Open the .ssh folder in Finder:

open ~/.ssh

You’ll see the two files listed above.

Step 3 – Add your public key to Hivenet

Double-click id_ed25519.pub to open it in TextEdit.
Copy the entire line (it starts with ssh-ed25519).
In Compute with Hivenet, paste that line into the SSH key field when you create an instance.

Paste only the .pub file contents. Never share the private key.

The SSH key field accepts one public key only.If you want to authorize more keys later (for teammates or alternate devices), connect to the instance and add them manually in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

Step 4 – (Optional) add a quick SSH config

In ~/.ssh, create or edit a file named config (no extension) and paste:

Host hivenet
    HostName YOUR_SSH_HOST
    User YOUR_SSH_USER
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    Port 22

Replace YOUR_SSH_HOST and YOUR_SSH_USER with the values in the instance’s SSH connection details, and use your matching private key. Include any additional settings supplied by the console. See SSH configuration and host verification. Now you can connect with:

ssh hivenet

—much quicker than pasting the full string each time.

Troubleshooting

Message	Likely cause & fix
Permission denied (publickey)	The public key isn’t on the instance, or you’re using the wrong private key. Re-add the key or point SSH at the right file.
Host key verification failed	Verify the server identity with Hivenet before changing `known_hosts`. See the host-verification guide above.
ssh: command not found	OpenSSH is missing (rare on macOS). Install Xcode Command Line Tools with `xcode-select --install`.

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Reference

How to generate and add an SSH key on macOS

What you’ll need

Step 1 – Create your SSH key pair

Step 2 – Find your key files

Step 3 – Add your public key to Hivenet

Step 4 – (Optional) add a quick SSH config

Troubleshooting

​What you’ll need

​Step 1 – Create your SSH key pair

​Step 2 – Find your key files

​Step 3 – Add your public key to Hivenet

​Step 4 – (Optional) add a quick SSH config

​Troubleshooting

What you’ll need

Step 1 – Create your SSH key pair

Step 2 – Find your key files

Step 3 – Add your public key to Hivenet

Step 4 – (Optional) add a quick SSH config

Troubleshooting