ssh-agent Setup Utility

A robust Bash utility script that automatically sets up ssh-agent and loads all SSH private keys from your ~/.ssh directory. Perfect for development environments and automated workflows.

Features

• Automatic ssh-agent Setup: Starts ssh-agent if not already running
• Bulk Key Loading: Discovers and loads all SSH private keys from ~/.ssh
• Smart Filtering: Automatically excludes public keys (.pub) and configuration files
• Duplicate Prevention: Prevents loading the same key multiple times
• Silent Mode: Optional mute flag for script automation

Quick Start

Download the script

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rikkarth/ssh-agent-set-me-up/refs/heads/master/src/ssh-agent-setup.sh

Usage

Basic Usage

# Source the script to load keys with output
source ssh-agent-setup.sh

# Or execute directly
./ssh-agent-setup.sh

Silent Mode

# Load keys without output messages
source ssh-agent-setup.sh --mute
source ssh-agent-setup.sh -m

Help and Version

# Display help
./ssh-agent-setup.sh --help

# Display version
./ssh-agent-setup.sh --version

Command Line Options

Option	Description
-m, --mute	Suppress non-error output messages
-h, --help	Display help message and usage information
-v, --version	Display version information

How It Works

The SSH setup process follows these steps:

1. ssh-agent Check: Verifies if ssh-agent is running via $SSH_AUTH_SOCK
2. Agent Startup: Starts ssh-agent if not already running
3. Key Discovery: Scans ~/.ssh/ directory for potential private key files
4. Smart Filtering: Excludes:
   • Public keys (.pub files)
   • Configuration files (config, known_hosts, authorized_keys, etc.)
   • Already processed keys (prevents duplicates)
5. Key Loading: Attempts to load each discovered private key
6. Setup Complete: Reports success and loaded key count

File Exclusions

The script automatically excludes these common SSH files:

• known_hosts and known_hosts.old
• config
• authorized_keys
• environment
• Any file with .pub extension

Examples

Standard Setup Workflow

$ source src/ssh-agent-setup.sh
Starting ssh-agent...
ssh-agent started successfully
Loading SSH keys from /home/user/.ssh...
✓ Added SSH key: id_ed25519
✓ Added SSH key: id_rsa
✓ Added SSH key: github_deploy_key
Successfully loaded 3 SSH key(s)
ssh-agent setup complete

Silent Mode Setup

$ source src/ssh-agent-setup.sh --mute
# No output, but keys are loaded silently

Integration in Shell Profile

Add to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or shell profile:

# Auto-setup SSH keys on shell startup
if [ -f ~/ssh-agent-setup.sh ]; then
    source ~/ssh-agent-setup.sh --mute
fi

Development Environment Setup

# In your project's setup script
echo "Setting up SSH environment..."
source path/to/ssh-agent-setup.sh --mute
echo "SSH setup complete, ready for git operations"

Installation

Manual Installation

Git Clone

git clone [email protected]:rikkarth/ssh-agent-set-me-up.git
cd ssh-agent-set-me-up
source src/ssh-agent-setup.sh

Requirements

• Bash: Version 4.0 or higher (for associative arrays)
• OpenSSH: Standard ssh-agent and ssh-add utilities
• Permissions: Read access to ~/.ssh directory
• SSH Keys: At least one SSH private key in ~/.ssh

Security Considerations

• Private Key Safety: Only processes files that appear to be private keys
• No Hardcoded Paths: Uses standard SSH directory locations
• Error Suppression: Prevents sensitive key information from appearing in error messages
• Permission Respect: Respects file system permissions
• No Global Pollution: Doesn't leave variables in your shell environment

Troubleshooting

No Keys Added

If no keys are added, check:

1. SSH Directory: Ensure ~/.ssh exists and contains private keys

   ls -la ~/.ssh/

2. Permissions: Verify read access to key files

   chmod 700 ~/.ssh
   chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_*

3. Key Format: Ensure keys are in standard OpenSSH format

4. Agent Status: Check if keys are already loaded

   ssh-add -l

Permission Denied

# Fix SSH directory permissions
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_*

# Ensure you own the files
chown -R $USER:$USER ~/.ssh/

Script Not Found

# Make script executable
chmod +x ssh-agent-setup.sh

# Check file exists
ls -la ssh-agent-setup.sh

Agent Already Running

If you see "ssh-agent already running", this is normal behavior. The script detected an existing agent and used it.

Use Cases

• Development Setup: Automatically load keys when starting development work
• CI/CD Pipelines: Setup SSH access in automated environments
• Remote Server Setup: Bootstrap SSH access on new servers
• Docker Containers: Setup SSH access in containerized environments
• Shell Profiles: Automatic SSH setup on login

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Ricardo Mendes - [email protected]