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whatsyourpassword's avatar
whatsyourpassword
New Contributor
2 months ago

Question/Feature Request: Active/Inactive SSH Keys per Machine

Hello!

I'm starting a new position today, and I'd like to continue to use 1Password for all the various things it does.

One problem that I'm currently facing is that I don't want to expose/leak/use/whatever the SSH keys that I've already established within 1Password. Ideally, I'd make a new key that I would use only my new work computer - but I don't think that's currently possible with 1Password, or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

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SSH
  • Michael_Mercuri's avatar
    Michael_Mercuri
    Contributor
    31 days ago

    It's possible to separate the keys (and other items) into different vaults (work, personal, whatever). And then configure the 1Password SSH Agent via the config file to allow access to keys in specific vaults:
    https://developer.1password.com/docs/ssh/agent/config

    This would allow you to configure your work machine to only look at the keys in your work vault.

    I only put work stuff in my work vault, which is accessed from my work laptop. Personal stuff goes into my personal vault, which is accessed from my personal machine.

  • whatsyourpassword's avatar
    whatsyourpassword
    New Contributor
    2 months ago

    Well, I kind of mean that - but configurable from 1Password's side.

    I have several SSH keys in 1Password, but on my work laptop, I only want my "work" SSH key available. I'd prefer to keep the key within 1Password. But I don't think it's possible to tell 1Password to only use a specific key on a specific host (as in, it should ignore all other keys when using SSH from a specific computer).

  • Michael_Mercuri's avatar
    Michael_Mercuri
    Contributor
    2 months ago

    Not sure this if this what you're asking about, but I use many SSH keys with 1Password. It's possible to control which SSH key is used for which account (user@host) by configuring them in ~/.ssh/config file. In fact, this isn't a feature specific to 1Password. It's how SSH works.

    For more details on the ~/.ssh/config file:
    https://linux.die.net/man/5/ssh_config

    I typically specify keys using IdentityFile option in ~/.ssh/config to identify the SSH public key I'm using for a specific user and host, with the private key stored securely in 1Password.

    Depending on what you're looking to do, it might be possible using ~/.ssh/config.