Creating an SSH Key on macOS

Macs come with ssh-keygen, part of the OpenSSH suite. Use it to generate an RSA key pair in the terminal.

In a terminal window, run the command:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

Replace [email protected] with your own email, or another comment identifying your key.

You'll see a prompt like:

Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/yourname/.ssh/id_rsa):

Press Enter to accept the default, or enter a custom path. Keep the path in a restricted directory that others do not have permission to access.

When prompted for a passphrase, press Enter to skip, or supply a passphrase. This is not the same as your ExaVault account password.

The process generates two files: a private key with no extension, and a public key with the extension .pub.

Upload your public key to your account, and add your private key to your SFTP client. Never give your private key to anyone.