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Authors: fire1ce | Created: 2022-06-18 | Last update: 2023-01-17

Import ed25519/RSA Keys Passphrase to macOS Keychain

First, you need to add the keys to the keychain with the following steps:

Copy your ed25519, ed25519.pub / id_rsa, id_rsa.pub to ~/.ssh/ folder

Store the key in the MacOS Keychain

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/ed25519

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Enter your key passphrase. You won't be asked for it again.

List all keys in the keychain:

ssh-add -l

Configure SSH to always use the keychain

If you haven't already, create an ~/.ssh/config file. In other words, in the .ssh directory in your home dir, make a file called config.

At ~/.ssh/config file, add the following lines at the top of the config:

Store the key in the MacOS Keychain

Host *
  UseKeychain yes
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Host *
  UseKeychain yes
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

The UseKeychain yes is the key part, which tells SSH to look in your macOS keychain for the key passphrase.

That's it! Next time you load any ssh connection, it will try the private keys you've specified, and it will look for their passphrase in the macOS keychain. No passphrase typing required.

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