Is there a way to identify with a username and password to github.com servers for the purpose of adding an ssh key to the github user account? So far everything I've read suggests that a user's ssh key must be added via the web GUI. I'm looking for the method or process of adding a key via a command line interface or else a bash/ansible/something script.
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1How about using some library to use GitHub's API?sr_– sr_2014-06-13 07:08:24 +00:00Commented Jun 13, 2014 at 7:08
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5 Answers
Update 2020
As stated in developer changes, Password authentication is going to be deprecated at:
November 13, 2020 at 16:00 UTC
Additionally, as @trysis asked in the comments, we need a solution for 2FA.
The new way is to use a personal access token:
For our specific example (adding a ssh key), we only need write permissions (read permissions are added automatically on using write permissions):
The updated command (via curl):
curl -H "Authorization: token YourGeneratedToken" --data '{"title":"test-key","key":"ssh-rsa AAA..."}' https://api.github.com/user/keys
This does also work when 2FA is enabled.
OLD
Auth with username and password is supported by github api:
There are three ways to authenticate through GitHub API v3. ...
Basic Authentication
$ curl -u "username" https://api.github.com
...
So just choose a lib in the language you prefer and use the implemented version of the Create a Public Key "Public Key" API Section:
Creates a public key. Requires that you are authenticated via Basic Auth, or OAuth with at least [write:public_key] scope.
INPUT
POST /user/keys
{
"title": "octocat@octomac",
"key": "ssh-rsa AAA..."
}
If you want to use it from command line (via curl):
curl -u "username" --data '{"title":"test-key","key":"ssh-rsa AAA..."}' https://api.github.com/user/keys
or even without prompting for password:
curl -u "username:password" --data '{"title":"test-key","key":"ssh-rsa AAA..."}' https://api.github.com/user/keys
here is a nice little tutorial for using curl to interact with github API
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This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for! Thank you very much!cmosetick– cmosetick2014-06-13 20:01:36 +00:00Commented Jun 13, 2014 at 20:01
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How do you add 2-Factor auth? Otherwise, the answer is amazing, even 6 years later!trysis– trysis2020-07-17 22:33:21 +00:00Commented Jul 17, 2020 at 22:33
Similar to xx4h's answer, this is how I do it in scripts for automating new VM setups.
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"
curl -u "myusername" \
--data "{\"title\":\"DevVm_`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`\",\"key\":\"`cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub`\"}" \
https://api.github.com/user/keys
It gives you a new SSH key, includes it in the curl call and gives a unique but still easily identifiable name for each one on the GitHub side (e.g. running now would give DevVm_150602142247).
#!/bin/bash
set -xe
myemail="your-email"
#your personal access token
git_api_token="befdf14c152d6f2ad8cff9c5affffffffffffffffff"
#We'll use the HTTPS to push a ssh key to git, SSH for pull/push configuration
gitrepo_ssh="[email protected]:person/repo.git"
gitrepo_https="https://github.com/person/repo.git"
#Generating SSH key:
ssh-keygen -f "${HOME}/.ssh/id_rsa" -t rsa -b 4096 -C "${myemail}" -N ''
sslpub="$(cat ${HOME}/.ssh/id_rsa.pub |tail -1)"
#git API path for posting a new ssh-key:
git_api_addkey="https://api.$(echo ${gitrepo_https} |cut -d'/' -f3)/user/keys"
#lets name the ssh-key in get after the hostname with a timestamp:
git_ssl_keyname="$(hostname)_$(date +%d-%m-%Y)"
#Finally lets post this ssh key:
curl -H "Authorization: token ${git_api_token}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d "{\"title\":\"${git_ssl_keyname}\",\"key\":\"${sslpub}\"}" ${git_api_addkey}
Another option is to use an API token... I use the following on our internal gitLab server
snippet:
#!/bin/bash
myemail="[email protected]"
# User API token can be found: "https://git.labs.domain.com/profile/account"
git_api_token="m3iP27Jh8KSgNmWAksYp"
# We'll use the HTTPS to push a ssh key to git, SSH for pull/push configuration
gitrepo_ssh="[email protected]:devops/automation.git"
gitrepo_https="https://git.labs.domain.com/devops/automation.git"
########################] D O N O T C H A N G E [########################
# Generating SSH key:
ssh-keygen -f "${HOME}/.ssh/id_rsa" -t rsa -b 4096 -C "${myemail}" -N ''
sslpub="$(cat ${HOME}/.ssh/id_rsa.pub |tail -1)"
# git API path for posting a new ssh-key:
git_api_addkey="https://$(echo ${gitrepo_https} |cut -d'/' -f3)/api/v3/user/keys"
# lets name the ssh-key in get after the hostname with a timestamp:
git_ssl_keyname="$(hostname)-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
# Finally lets post this ssh key:
curl -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: ${git_api_token}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-X POST -d "{\"title\":\"${git_ssl_keyname}\",\"key\":\"${sslpub}\"}" \
${git_api_addkey}
With the new GitHub CLI gh, you have gh auth login + gh ssh add
Add an SSH key to your GitHub account
gh ssh-key add [<key-file>] [flags]
