Fix "Permission denied (publickey)" SSH Error

Troubleshoot SSH connection failures to GitHub or remote servers due to incorrect key permissions or missing keys.

The Problem (Error Root Cause)Exception

When running `ssh user@host` or `git push`, you receive `Permission denied (publickey)`. The remote server rejected your connection because it doesn't recognize your key or the SSH agent isn't offering the right one.

Identified via runtime validation & stack traces

The Solution (Step-by-Step Fix)Verified

Ensure the public key is correctly added to the server's `~/.ssh/authorized_keys`, your private key file has strict `600` permissions (`chmod 600 id_ed25519`), and the key is added to your ssh-agent.

Deterministic, non-destructive resolution

Code Standard: Bad Pattern vs Verified Fix

Live Syntax

Anti-Pattern vs Verified Fix

1# ❌ Bad: Too open permissions on private key
2$ chmod 644 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
3 
4# ✅ Good: Strict permissions and adding to agent
5$ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
6$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

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