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Sospeter Mong'are
Sospeter Mong'are

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Step-by-Step on how to Link SSH to GitHub from Your Server

#github #git

When you use SSH to clone a GitHub repository on your server, you’re authenticating the server to GitHub using an SSH key. Here's how it's linked:

🔁 What’s Actually Happening?

  1. You generate an SSH key pair on your server.
  • The private key stays on the server.
  • The public key is copied to GitHub.
  1. When you run a command like: 
   git clone git@github.com:your-username/your-repo.git
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GitHub checks:

  • “Does this public key match one of the authorized SSH keys on this GitHub account?”
  • If yes, access is granted, and cloning happens without asking for a username/password.

🔐 Step-by-Step: Link SSH to GitHub from Your Server

✅ 1. On your Contabo server, generate an SSH key: 

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your-email@example.com"
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Press Enter for all prompts to accept defaults.

✅ 2. Copy the public key: 

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
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Copy the output (it begins with ssh-rsa...).

✅ 3. Go to GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key

  • Title: Contabo server
  • Paste the key

✅ 4. Back on the server, test the connection: 

ssh -T git@github.com
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If successful, it will say:

Hi your-username! You've successfully authenticated...
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✅ 5. Now you can clone your repo using SSH: 

git clone git@github.com:your-username/your-django-repo.git tunaresq_be
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No username/password will be required — it just works 🎉.

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