ssh-keygen

Generates a SSH key-pair

Install

1. Make sure you have ssh-keygen (try $ ssh-keygen if you aren't sure)
2. npm package install

npm install ssh-keygen

OR download from github and place in ./node_modules

Usage

var keygen = require('ssh-keygen');
var fs = require('fs');
 
var location = __dirname + '/foo_rsa';
var comment = 'joe@foobar.com';
var password = 'keypassword'; // false and undefined will convert to an empty pw
var format = 'PEM'; // default is RFC4716
 
keygen({
  location: location,
  comment: comment,
  password: password,
  read: true,
  format: format
}, function(err, out){
    if(err) return console.log('Something went wrong: '+err);
    console.log('Keys created!');
    console.log('private key: '+out.key);
    console.log('public key: '+out.pubKey);
});
 

The following shell command will get executed:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -C "joe@foobar.com" -N "keypassword" -m PEM -f ./foo_rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Your identification has been saved in ./foo_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in ./foo_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
02:f7:40:b6:c7:b3:a3:68:16:53:dd:86:63:df:b5:33 joe@foobar.com
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
|      o          |
|     o + o       |
|    . = O o   .  |
|     + = * . . . |
|    o . S . . E  |
|     + o .     o |
|    + .          |
|   o             |
|                 |
+-----------------+

Parameters

• location, desired location for the key. The public key will be at the location + .pub, defaults temp dir
• read, should the callback have the key files read into it, defaults true
• force, destroy pre-existing files with the location name and the public key name, defaults true
• destroy, destroy the key files once they have been read, defaults false
• comment, the comment that should be embedded into the key, defaults empty
• password, the password for the key, defaults empty

Note

It is advisable to generate your keys on a machine with a significant random source like one with a mouse/trackpad.

License

ssh-keygen is open source under the MIT license

Windows

This package bundles binaries for windows. The current version is: 2.4.4.2-rc3

Todo

• Real tests

Contributors welcome!