Before adding a new SSH key to the ssh-agent to manage your keys, you should have checked for existing SSH keys and generated a new SSH key. When adding your SSH key to the agent, use the default macOS ssh-add command, and not an application installed by macports, homebrew, or some other external source. Start the ssh-agent in the background. $ eval "$(ssh-agent -s)" > Agent pid 59566 Depending on your environment, you may need to use a different command. For example, you may need to use root access by running sudo -s -H before starting the ssh-agent, or you may need to use exec ssh-agent bash or exec ssh-agent zsh to run the ssh-agent. If you're using macOS Sierra 10.12.2 or later, you will need to modify your ~/.ssh/config file to automatically load keys into the ssh-agent and store passphrases in your keychain. First, check to see if your ~/.ssh/config file exists in the default location. $ open ~/.ssh/config > The file /Users/YOU/.ssh/config does not exist. If the file doesn't exist, create the file. touch ~/.ssh/config Open your ~/.ssh/config file, then modify the file to contain the following lines. If your SSH key file has a different name or path than the example code, modify the filename or path to match your current setup. TextHost github.com AddKeysToAgent yes UseKeychain yes IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 Host github.com AddKeysToAgent yes UseKeychain yes IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 Note If you chose not to add a passphrase to your key, you should omit the UseKeychain line. If you see a Bad configuration option: usekeychain error, add an additional line to the configuration's' Host *.github.com section. TextHost github.com IgnoreUnknown UseKeychain Host github.com IgnoreUnknown UseKeychain Add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent and store your passphrase in the keychain. If you created your key with a different name, or if you are adding an existing key that has a different name, replace id_ed25519 in the command with the name of your private key file. ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 Note The --apple-use-keychain option stores the passphrase in your keychain for you when you add an SSH key to the ssh-agent. If you chose not to add a passphrase to your key, run the command without the --apple-use-keychain option. The --apple-use-keychain option is in Apple's standard version of ssh-add. In macOS versions prior to Monterey (12.0), the --apple-use-keychain and --apple-load-keychain flags used the syntax -K and -A, respectively. If you don't have Apple's standard version of ssh-add installed, you may receive an error. For more information, see Error: ssh-add: illegal option -- apple-use-keychain. If you continue to be prompted for your passphrase, you may need to add the command to your ~/.zshrc file (or your ~/.bashrc file for bash). Add the SSH public key to your account on GitHub. For more information, see Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account. If you have GitHub Desktop installed, you can use it to clone repositories and not deal with SSH keys. In a new admin elevated PowerShell window, ensure the ssh-agent is running. You can use the "Auto-launching the ssh-agent" instructions in Working with SSH key passphrases, or start it manually: # start the ssh-agent in the background Get-Service -Name ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartupType Manual Start-Service ssh-agent In a terminal window without elevated permissions, add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent. If you created your key with a different name, or if you are adding an existing key that has a different name, replace id_ed25519 in the command with the name of your private key file. ssh-add c:/Users/YOU/.ssh/id_ed25519 Add the SSH public key to your account on GitHub. For more information, see Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account. Start the ssh-agent in the background.