glab ssh-key

Overview

  Manage SSH keys registered with your GitLab account.                                                                  
         
  USAGE  
         
    glab ssh-key <command> [command] [--flags]  
            
  COMMANDS  
            
    add [key-file] [--flags]   Add an SSH key to your GitLab account.
    delete <key-id> [--flags]  Deletes a single SSH key specified by the ID.
    get <key-id> [--flags]     Returns a single SSH key specified by the ID.
    list [--flags]             Get a list of SSH keys for the currently authenticated user.
         
  FLAGS  
         
    -h --help                  Show help for this command.
    -R --repo                  Select another repository. Can use either `OWNER/REPO` or `GROUP/NAMESPACE/REPO` format. Also accepts full URL or Git URL.

⚠️ Security Warning: Public Keys Only

Always verify you are uploading a PUBLIC key, not a private key.

• ✅ Public keys: ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (.pub extension)
• ❌ Private keys: ~/.ssh/id_rsa, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (no extension — NEVER upload these)

Uploading a private key to GitLab would expose your credentials. Double-check the filename before running glab ssh-key add.

# ✅ Safe — public key
glab ssh-key add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub --title "My Laptop"

# ❌ NEVER do this — private key
# glab ssh-key add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 --title "My Laptop"

Before uploading, verify your key is public:

# Should start with 'ssh-rsa', 'ssh-ed25519', 'ecdsa-sha2-*', etc.
head -c 20 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Quick start

glab ssh-key --help

v1.89.0 Updates

v1.89.0+: glab ssh-key list and glab ssh-key get support --output json / -F json for structured output, ideal for agent automation.

# List SSH keys with JSON output (v1.89.0+)
glab ssh-key list --output json
glab ssh-key list -F json

# Get a specific SSH key with JSON output (v1.89.0+)
glab ssh-key get <key-id> --output json
glab ssh-key get <key-id> -F json

Subcommands

See references/commands.md for full --help output.