Storing SSH keys in 1Password - really doesn't work at all well

ChrisJenkins

I'd like to store SSH keys (private and public) in 1Password (Mac and iOS). However the standard 'text' field type in 1Password is no good for this as when I copy and paste the key text (from a terminal session) into one of those files it loses the line breaks and the resulting private key is then (very) hard to easily re-constitiute. The 'notes' field does not have this issue but you can only have one notes field per item and so it isn't really very useful (a person may have several SSH keys). Can you please improve the 'text' field type so that it retains line breaks when pasting (and copying). or provide an additional field type that behaves the same way as the notes field but where multiple fields are allowed per item. This is really very important to me. Thanks.

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1Password Version: 7.3.2
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 10.14.6
Sync Type: 1Password for Families

Ben

Hi @ChrisJenkins

We've had similar requests (particularly re: SSH keys) before and I've filed an issue with our development team to consider how to best address this. I can't make any promises at this stage, but my suggestion was to implement a multi-line password field. That way the key could be concealed, but would retain line breaks, and could be easily copied to the clipboard. Also, it would be possible to have multiple of them on an item.

a person may have several SSH keys

For now... I'd recommend a unique item for each of them.

Ben

ref: internal/b5book#988

Jonathan_Notmyname

Has this been improved since these last posts in August?

ag_ana

Not yet @Jonathan_Notmyname, I am afraid we haven't had the chance to implement this yet.

astalea

there are millions of devs out there. I am sure many of them are interested in storing ssh keys in 1password like me. What is needed to priotize this request higher?

ag_ana

@astalea:

Your feedback here is the best way to do this, so thank you for chiming in on this as well :+1:

veriik

This is a feature that would be very helpful. Now I'll have to keep rotating encrypted .txt files around.

Ben

Thanks for letting us know, @veriik.

Ben

madAndroid

I would be interested in this as well

ag_ana

Thank you for chiming in on this too @madAndroid :)

Lukas S.

I support this request as well! 🙂

Is there generally a better way for supporting an existing feature request other than leaving a comment like this in the forum?

ag_ana

@Lukas S.:

No, posting on the forum or emailing us is the best way to let us know your feedback :)

ymorired

I would also be interested in this! (Especially if it integrates well with CLI)

Ben

Good idea, @ymorired. Thanks for sharing. :)

Ben

yeahns

I'd love to see this feature available soon - would be so very useful!
Thanks for a fantastic product!

Ben

Thanks @yeahns. :)

Ben

rzachlamberty

was looking to add my keys to 1password just now and was frankly surprised it wasn't already supported. would love to see it!

ag_ana

Thank you for sharing your feedback with us as well @rzachlamberty :+1: :)

kalbert312

Also interested in this. Wanting to store private/public key combos to my work team vault for service accounts.

ag_ana

Thank you for chiming in too @kalbert312 :+1:

kalbert312

https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/comment/519997/#Comment_519997
How does one make a multiline password field? Looking for the masking with the copy as well but password field doesn't retain line breaks.

Ben

One doesn't, currently. Multi-line password fields aren't a feature of 1Password. We're evaluating implementing them as one possible solution for this use case. :)

Ben

nguarracino

I would love for this to be added as well. I landed on this discussion because I just generated a new SSH key and could not figure out how to store it in 1Password. Thanks!

Ben

Thanks @nguarracino. :)

Ben

nguarracino

@Ben - Thank you! BTW, I just noticed that this is the Mac forum. I actually use 1Password X and Android, if that makes a difference.

Lars

@nguarracino - it does if you want platform-specific advice and suggestions. But for something like this, it matters less. The reality of the situation is that we do not currently have a dedicated SSH key category and if we were to implement one, it would need to be cross-platform. It's something we get regular but infrequent requests for, but as we're currently in the process of working to develop custom categories which would let the user define their own templates, we probably aren't going to be developing any new static categories just now. Nothing about this is fixed in stone, however, so thank you for registering your thoughts and wishes for this category with us, as well as for being a 1Password user. :)

nguarracino

Makes sense, thanks @Lars. A custom category would certainly work too.

Ben

:+1:

Ben

mgenereu

I just stored the two files as linked documents. Why is this undesirable? I would think these are documents because the binary precision (or multiline formatting) would be important.

Ben

I actually do the same, personally, @mgenereu. :)

Ben

jarom

The best implementation I have come across of integrating SSH keys with a password manager is from the KeePassXC program. There I can add attachments to a password entry and the entry can be configured to load the key into the SSH agent when the key vault is unlocked and remove the keys from the agent when the vault is locked. It is by far the easiest solution I have come across, other than simply having Apple store the password in the Keychain.

To use the Apple Keychain to supply your SSH key password add the following to your ~/.ssh/config:

UseKeychain yes
AddKeysToAgent yes