---
title: "infisical ssh"
description: "Generate SSH credentials with the CLI"
---

## Description

[Infisical SSH](/documentation/platform/ssh) lets you issue SSH credentials to clients to provide short-lived, secure SSH access to infrastructure.

This command enables you to obtain SSH credentials used to access a remote host; we recommend using the `issue-credentials` sub-command to generate dynamic SSH credentials for each SSH session.

### Sub-commands

<Accordion title="infisical ssh issue-credentials">
    This command is used to issue SSH credentials (SSH certificate, public key, and private key) against a certificate template.
    
    We recommend using the `--addToAgent` flag to automatically load issued SSH credentials to the SSH agent.
    
    ```bash
    $ infisical ssh issue-credentials --certificateTemplateId=<certificate-template-id> --principals=<principals> --addToAgent
    ```

    ### Flags
    <Accordion title="--certificateTemplateId">
        The ID of the SSH certificate template to issue SSH credentials for.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--principals">
        A comma-separated list of principals (i.e. usernames like `ec2-user` or hostnames) to issue SSH credentials for.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--addToAgent">
        Whether to add issued SSH credentials to the SSH agent.
        
        Default value: `false`
        
        Note that either the `--outFilePath` or `--addToAgent` flag must be set for the sub-command to execute successfully.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--outFilePath">
        The path to write the SSH credentials to such as `~/.ssh`, `./some_folder`, `./some_folder/id_rsa-cert.pub`. If not provided, the credentials will be saved to the current working directory where the command is run.
        
        Note that either the `--outFilePath` or `--addToAgent` flag must be set for the sub-command to execute successfully.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--keyAlgorithm">
        The key algorithm to issue SSH credentials for.
        
        Default value: `RSA_2048`
        
        Available options: `RSA_2048`, `RSA_4096`, `EC_prime256v1`, `EC_secp384r1`.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--certType">
        The certificate type to issue SSH credentials for.
        
        Default value: `user`
        
        Available options: `user` or `host`
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--ttl">
        The time-to-live (TTL) for the issued SSH certificate (e.g. `2 days`, `1d`, `2h`, `1y`).
        
        Defaults to the Default TTL value set in the certificate template.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--keyId">
        A custom Key ID to issue SSH credentials for.
        
        Defaults to the autogenerated Key ID by Infisical.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--token">
        An authenticated token to use to issue SSH credentials.
    </Accordion>
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="infisical ssh sign-key">
    This command is used to sign an existing SSH public key against a certificate template; the command outputs the corresponding signed SSH certificate.
    
    ```bash
    $ infisical ssh sign-key --certificateTemplateId=<certificate-template-id> --publicKey=<public-key> --principals=<principals> --outFilePath=<out-file-path>
    ```
    <Accordion title="--certificateTemplateId">
        The ID of the SSH certificate template to issue the SSH certificate for.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--publicKey">
        The public key to sign.

        Note that either the `--publicKey` or `--publicKeyFilePath` flag must be set for the sub-command to execute successfully.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--publicKeyFilePath">
        The path to the public key file to sign.

        Note that either the `--publicKey` or `--publicKeyFilePath` flag must be set for the sub-command to execute successfully.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--principals">
        A comma-separated list of principals (i.e. usernames like `ec2-user` or hostnames) to issue SSH credentials for.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--outFilePath">
        The path to write the SSH certificate to such as `~/.ssh/id_rsa-cert.pub`; the specified file must have the `.pub` extension. If not provided, the credentials will be saved to the directory of the specified `--publicKeyFilePath` or the current working directory where the command is run.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--certType">
        The certificate type to issue SSH credentials for.
        
        Default value: `user`
        
        Available options: `user` or `host`
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--ttl">
        The time-to-live (TTL) for the issued SSH certificate (e.g. `2 days`, `1d`, `2h`, `1y`).
        
        Defaults to the Default TTL value set in the certificate template.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--keyId">
        A custom Key ID to issue SSH credentials for.
        
        Defaults to the autogenerated Key ID by Infisical.
    </Accordion>
    <Accordion title="--token">
        An authenticated token to use to issue SSH credentials.
    </Accordion>
</Accordion>