BBC's guide to development

First-Time SSH Setup (macOS)

On macOS, you can configure SSH to automatically use your keys with the system keychain so you don’t have to re-enter passphrases after each restart.

1️⃣ Add Your Key to the Keychain

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

Replace ~/.ssh/id_rsa with the path to your private key if different.

2️⃣ Configure SSH to Always Use the Keychain

Edit (or create) ~/.ssh/config:

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

What this does:

UseKeychain yes — Store the passphrase in the macOS keychain
AddKeysToAgent yes — Automatically load the key into ssh-agent
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa - Points to your specific key so SSH knows where to find it

3️⃣ Test the Connection

ssh user@your-server.com

If it connects without asking for your passphrase, the setup worked.

Tip:
You can still add host-specific settings (like HostName, User, Port, IdentityFile) in the same ~/.ssh/config if needed for staging or production environments.