SSH keys
Last updated 25 October 2026
Make a key
On your computer, in a terminal (PowerShell on Windows):
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@laptop"
Press Enter to keep the default file, and choose a passphrase. This makes two files: id_ed25519 (private, never share it) and id_ed25519.pub (public).
Use it for a new server
Show the public key and copy the whole line:
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
Paste it into the SSH public key field when you deploy. The server then accepts your key and no root password is created.
Add it to a running server
ssh-copy-id root@203.0.113.10
On Windows, append the line from id_ed25519.pub to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server instead.