SSH keys

In progress

SSH keys work in the web vault, the desktop app, the CLI and the native iPhone, iPad and Android apps, and the desktop app has the SSH agent and ~/.ssh. The browser extension shows keys but can only copy their public parts. The agent has been tested with the real OpenSSH tools on macOS; its Touch ID prompts, Windows and Linux haven’t been tried on real machines yet.

An SSH key is its own item type, with its own category in the sidebar and its own section when a list is grouped by type. Like every item, it’s encrypted on your device: the server never sees the private key, the public key, the fingerprint or the comment.

What a key holds

Field	Notes
Private key	In OpenSSH format, stored without a passphrase: the vault encrypts it. Shown or copied only after you’ve unlocked with your master password or device unlock, or confirmed it again; saved to a file only after you confirm it again.
Public key	ssh-ed25519 AAAA…, without the comment. This is what you put on a server.
Key type	The SSH algorithm (ssh-ed25519, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ssh-rsa, …), shown to people as Ed25519, ECDSA P-256 and so on.
Fingerprint	SHA256:…, the same as ssh-keygen -l -E sha256 prints. It’s the list’s subtitle and tells keys apart.
Comment	Usually you@computer; it ends the authorized_keys line. Servers ignore it.
Passphrase	Optional. Protects copies you export; the key in the vault is protected by the vault itself.
Notes and fields	Like any item.

Generate

Choose New SSH key, then a key type and Generate:

• Ed25519 works with almost every current server and is the recommendation.
• ECDSA P-256 and P-384 for servers that ask for those curves.
• RSA 3072 or RSA 4096 for old servers that don’t support Ed25519. RSA is slower and larger; prefer Ed25519 where you can.

The key is made on the device by the Octa Pass core. The private key never leaves it unencrypted. Prefer Ed25519. RSA keys work too: they’re signed with ring, not the rsa crate, because of an open timing advisory.

Import

Import a private key file, or paste its text:

• OpenSSH private keys (-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----), with or without a passphrase.
• PEM keys: PKCS#1 RSA (RSA PRIVATE KEY), SEC1 EC (EC PRIVATE KEY) and DSA (DSA PRIVATE KEY).
• PKCS#8 keys (PRIVATE KEY, and ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY), plain or passphrase-protected.

Octa Pass asks for a passphrase when the file has one, then reads the public key, type and fingerprint from the private key. Choose the file without .pub: a public key can’t be turned into a private one, and the app says so.

Some keys are kept but can’t be used yet:

• DSA keys and FIDO security-key (sk-) keys are stored with their public key and fingerprint. They can’t be generated, used or converted in this version.
• PuTTY (.ppk) keys and keys encrypted with 3DES aren’t read. Convert them with ssh-keygen first.

Malformed files, a wrong passphrase and unsupported formats each get a clear message instead of a broken item.

View and copy

The item shows the public key, fingerprint, type and comment. Copy the public key from the item or, in the browser extension, from the list row. The private key stays hidden until you choose Show. If you unlocked Octa Pass with your master password or device unlock, that’s enough; otherwise it asks you to confirm it’s you (see Revealing and copying). Exporting the private key asks every time.

The extension shows SSH key items, their fingerprint and a copy button for the public key only. It never reads or shows the private key.

Export

• Save private key writes an OpenSSH file. Choose a passphrase for the file or leave it empty. If the item has a passphrase saved, it’s offered by default.
• Save public key writes the authorized_keys line (the key and its comment).

The CLI writes private keys readable only by you (mode 0600) and won’t replace an existing file without --force.

Move keys between apps

Octa Pass’s own export and the Credential Exchange Format (CXF) carry sshKey items losslessly. When Octa Pass exports CXF, the key is written as an ssh-key credential with its private key in PKCS#8 and an optional passphrase custom field. Importing such a file turns it back into an SSH key item. DSA and FIDO keys can’t be converted to CXF and are reported as left out.

SSH agent

The desktop app can act as your SSH agent, so ssh, Git and IDEs use the keys in your vault without a copy on disk.

1. In Settings → SSH agent, turn on Run the SSH agent. It’s off until you do, and the choice is for this computer only.
2. Choose Use it for SSH, which adds a marked block to the end of ~/.ssh/config, so hosts with their own IdentityAgent keep it. Or set it for one terminal: export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=~/.octapass/agent.sock.

Then ssh-add -l lists your keys and ssh just works.

• You approve each use. Every signature asks Touch ID, Windows Hello or your system password, naming the key, what it’s for and the program asking. Cancelling refuses it. A computer with no lock shows an Allow / Deny window instead.
• Only while unlocked. A request to a locked vault opens the device unlock prompt. If you cancel, or device unlock isn’t on, the agent offers nothing for a minute, so tools that poll it don’t keep asking.
• It only lists and signs. ssh-add can’t add or remove keys: the vault owns them.
• Fewer keys: servers stop after about six tries, so with many keys, untick Offer this key through the SSH agent in a key’s editor.
• Git: octapass git setup --signing-key <key> --agent signs commits through the agent, or set gpg.format = ssh and user.signingkey = key::<public key> yourself. See the CLI.
• Forwarding (ssh -A) works and each use still asks you, but the prompt names your local ssh, not the remote program.

On the Mac the app is sandboxed, so the agent’s socket is in the app’s own folder, ~/Library/Group Containers/<team>.app.octap/agent.sock, and Octa Pass doesn’t edit ~/.ssh/config for you. Settings → SSH agent shows the path with a copy button, and the lines to add to ~/.ssh/config (the path has a space, so keep the quotes):

Host *
  IdentityAgent "~/Library/Group Containers/<team>.app.octap/agent.sock"

Or for one terminal: export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$HOME/Library/Group Containers/<team>.app.octap/agent.sock". <team> is the Apple team that signed the app; Settings shows the full path.

On Windows the agent uses the openssh-ssh-agent pipe that Windows’ ssh.exe looks for. Only one agent can have it, so stop the OpenSSH Authentication Agent service first; Settings shows the error if it’s taken.

RSA keys

The rsa crate has an open advisory, RUSTSEC-2023-0071 (the Marvin attack), a timing leak in private-key operations. It was still unpatched when we last checked on 2 November 2026, in 0.9.10 and in 0.10.0-rc.19. So Octa Pass never signs with that crate: RSA signatures go through ring, which is constant-time. Only rsa-sha2-256 and rsa-sha2-512 signatures are made; the old SHA-1 ssh-rsa is refused, so a server too old for SHA-2 won’t accept your RSA key. RSA OpenPGP keys can’t sign at all, because that library has no such option.

~/.ssh on this computer

In the desktop app, the key editor lists the private keys already in ~/.ssh: choose one to bring it in, with its passphrase if it has one. On a saved key, Write to ~/.ssh writes the private key (readable only by you) and its .pub file, after you confirm it’s you. It never replaces a file unless you tick that box. Neither happens by itself: Octa Pass doesn’t watch or sync the folder.

Not yet

• Native iOS and Android screens.
• Mapping other managers’ imports (Bitwarden, Proton Pass, 1PUX, Keeper) to the SSH key type; for now they still arrive as secure notes. CXF is the exception.