Keep ssh-agent running in servers

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Normally when sshing into a new server, it’s common to run into the problematic of having to run the ssh server and add the relevant ssh keys.

eval $(ssh-agent -c)
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Well, there’s a better way and it’s pretty easy if I may say so myself.

Configuration

As the shell I normally use in servers, I’m going to explain the configuration for the fish shell. But everything explained here it’s applicable to any other shell I have used, adapted to the specific shell’s quirks of course.

Normally, everyone has an if block in their ~/.config/fish/config.fish, checking if the shell is running in an interactive session, that looks something like this:

if status is-interactive
	# ...
end

In here you will have to execute keychain, a tool that comes with almost every package manager out there. Ensure that you have it installed, if not, do it with the package manager you are stuck with.

sudo apt install keychain

As I previously said the configuration is pretty easy. Just add the following inside the if status is-interactive block.

keychain --eval $SSH_KEYS_TO_AUTOLOAD | source

You should have something along these lines:

if status is-interactive
	# ...
	keychain --eval $SSH_KEYS_TO_AUTOLOAD | source
end

Now, to add keys to your ssh agent.

set -Ua SSH_KEYS_TO_AUTOLOAD ~/.ssh/my_private_key

Finally reload your shell, exiting and reentering, sourcing the config or whichever way you like the most. If you did everything you should see a message saying that keychain has started the ssh-agent or that it’s already running.