Table of contents

SSH Keys

SSH keys are how you connect to your pods and VMs. You can generate a key pair inside PodStack or upload one you already have.

What you’ll accomplish

Add an SSH key to your account and set it as the default used when launching resources.

Prerequisites

  • A signed-in account.

Generate a key in PodStack

  1. Go to SSH Keys and choose Generate New Key.
  2. Enter a name.
  3. Choose a type:
    • ED25519 (recommended) — fast, small, modern.
    • RSA — 2048–4096 bits (default 4096) for maximum compatibility.
  4. Choose Generate, then download the private key immediately — it is shown only once.

You can re-download the PEM for platform-generated keys later from the key’s detail view. Uploaded keys never expose a private key (PodStack only holds the public half).

Configure your local machine

# Move the downloaded key into place
mv ~/Downloads/podstack_key ~/.ssh/

# Lock down permissions
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/podstack_key

# (Optional) load it into your agent
ssh-add ~/.ssh/podstack_key

Upload an existing key

  1. Find your public key locally:
    cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub   # or ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
  2. In SSH Keys, choose Add SSH Key.
  3. Enter a name and paste the public key (starts with ssh-ed25519 or ssh-rsa).
  4. Choose Add Key.

Your first key automatically becomes the default. Set a different default any time with Set as Default.

Account limits

The number of keys you can store depends on your billing account type:

Account typeMax SSH keys
Prepaid (new accounts)1
Postpaid (monthly billing)20

New accounts start on prepaid billing, so you get one SSH key. Switching to postpaid (monthly invoiced billing) raises the limit to 20 — contact PodStack to enable postpaid billing on your account. Hitting the limit shows an upgrade prompt rather than adding the key.

Need more than one key on prepaid? A common pattern is to add a single key to your account and use an SSH agent or per-host IdentityFile entries locally.

Verify it worked

  • The key appears in your SSH Keys list with its fingerprint.
  • One key shows the default badge.

Connect using your key

# Using your default key
ssh root@<pod-address>

# Using a specific key
ssh -i ~/.ssh/podstack_key root@<pod-address>

Simplify repeat connections with ~/.ssh/config:

Host my-pod
    HostName abc123.cloud.podstack.ai
    User root
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/podstack_key

Then just ssh my-pod. For a full walkthrough (including Windows), see Connecting to Pods.

Troubleshoot

ProblemCause / fix
SSH key limit reachedPrepaid accounts allow 1 key — switch to postpaid billing for up to 20 (contact PodStack).
“Invalid SSH public key format”Paste the full public key line, starting with ssh-ed25519/ssh-rsa.
Duplicate name / fingerprintChoose a unique name; the same key can’t be added twice.
Can’t delete a keyIt may be in use by a running/stopped pod — reassign that pod first.
Permission denied (publickey)chmod 600 your private key and confirm you’re using the matching key.

Next steps