git@github.com: Permission denied (publickey). — how to fix

git@github.com: Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.

Quick fix: Run ssh -T git@github.com to test. If it fails, create a key with ssh-keygen -t ed25519, add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub to GitHub → Settings → SSH keys, and try again.

What it means

Git connected to GitHub over SSH, but none of the keys your SSH client offered belong to a GitHub account that can access the repository.

Step 1: test the connection

ssh -T git@github.com

Hi username! You've successfully authenticated means SSH works. The problem is access to the repo itself (wrong URL, or no permission).
Permission denied (publickey) means your key is missing or not registered. Continue below.

Step 2: check that you have a key

ls -al ~/.ssh

Look for id_ed25519 and id_ed25519.pub (or id_rsa / id_rsa.pub). If there are none, create one:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"

Step 3: load the key into ssh-agent

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Step 4: add the public key to GitHub

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Copy the whole line and paste it in GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key. Then run ssh -T git@github.com again.

Other causes

Using sudo. sudo git clone ... uses root's keys in /root/.ssh, not yours. Drop the sudo.
Key has a non-default name. Tell SSH which key to use in ~/.ssh/config:

Host github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/my_github_key
  IdentitiesOnly yes

Wrong permissions. SSH ignores private keys that others can read: chmod 700 ~/.ssh && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.
Port 22 blocked (corporate network). Use GitHub's SSH-over-HTTPS host: set Hostname ssh.github.com and Port 443 in the config block above.
You don't need SSH at all. Switch the remote to HTTPS: git remote set-url origin https://github.com/USER/REPO.git.

Last updated 2026-10-27.