ssh-key setup

The correct fix (clean + professional)

Do not try to recover or guess.

✅ Generate a brand-new CI key (once)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/github_ci_deploy -C "github-ci-deploy"

✅ Add public key to VPS

cat ~/.ssh/github_ci_deploy.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

✅ Add private key to GitHub Secrets

Secret name:

SERVER_SSH_KEY

Value = contents of:

~/.ssh/github_ci_deploy

✅ Test locally (important)

ssh -i ~/.ssh/github_ci_deploy deploy@YOUR_VPS

No password prompt = correct.

🔐 Lessons (this is senior-level knowledge)

SSH keys are single-source of truth

Re-running ssh-keygen -f destroys identity

CI keys should:

Have unique filenames

Be generated once

Be documented