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stoutZero
Jul 21, 2025 4:49 AM UTC
Solved

1Password ssh agent & ssh key on disk

Hi,

I have enabled 1Password ssh agent, and checked that 1Password touch id prompt is showing up & working when I connected to a different machine via ssh.

 

*Tangent:

Why is pasting in this textarea so annoying? Was trying to change multiple "1P" into "1Password" by  selecting it, then pasting into it; but I have to paste it, undo, then paste it again; when I pasted something without selecting anything, a newline was inserted before and after the thing I pasted

 

I also see that 1Password Watchtower listed these two warnings: "Unencrypted" & "Already in 1Password" for every ssh key I have in `~/.ssh/keys`.

Wanting to please the Watchtower, I then moved away all the keys in `~/.ssh/keys`, but somehow ssh now asked for password?

I then replicate the keys but with no content, ssh still asks for password.

When I moved back all the keys, only then 1Password TouchId prompt work again.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm expecting that I don't actually need the ssh keys physically on disk when I used 1Password's ssh agent.

I checked `~/.ssh/config` file, and it did have the neccessary `IdentityAgent` config.

I guess I just don't quite understand how 1Password's ssh agent is supposed to work.

The information on 1Password's ssh agent in the documentation is rather minimum.

Any help and / or clarification would be appreciated.

Thanks.

floris_1P
floris_1PAnswer
1Password Employee
Jul 23, 2025 11:16 AM UTC

Hey @stoutZero, you can in fact use `IdentitiesOnly yes` + `IdentityFile` with the 1Password SSH agent, but then point `IdentityFile` to the public key instead of the private key. The private key can be stored in 1Password with only the .pub file on disk.

5 replies

Jul 21, 2025 11:09 PM UTC

Hi @stoutZero ,

Thanks for writing in.  The authentication pattern should be independent of the SSH Key situation. Would you be able to send us a note at mailto:support@1password.com ?

Thanks,
Phil

stoutZero
stoutZeroAuthor
Jul 22, 2025 4:36 AM UTC

Done

stoutZero
stoutZeroAuthor
Jul 22, 2025 11:11 AM UTC

After mailing the 1Password's support, Juraj Stolc (CX Technical Representative) told me that the `IdentitiesOnly yes` in my local ssh config is preventing me from deleting my local ssh keys.

I then have to remove the `IdentityFile` key for each hosts.

But the point of having `IdentityFile` for each hosts is so that:

  1. No single ssh key leak will expose all of my remote machines to attackers
  2. Enables SSH agent to just offer a single ssh key to a single remote machine

 

I tried removing `IdentitiesOnly` & `IdentityFile` for a single VPS in a different country.

The result? `fail2ban` in that VPS blocked my ip because 1Password tried to offer all 70+ of my SSH keys.

I have had to remove the blacklist via a web based console, which is not a pleasant experience.

Disclaimer:

This is not me disparaging the use of 1Password's ssh agent, if it works for you go for it :)

For me, I have had to keep 60+ ssh keys for my client's machines, including bare metal ones, because they don't have a password manager (and because they're not a devops person). And another 10 ssh keys for my own machines.

I don't actually have 70 machines that I manage on a daily basis. The fact that 1Password's ssh agent cannot perfectly replicate this configuration in my local ssh config:

# connect using: `ssh file1` in your terminal
Host file1
	User user1
	HostName 10.90.1.1
	Port 22
	IdentityFile ~/.ssh/keys/user1@file1

# connect using: `ssh file12` in your terminal
Host file12
	User user2
	HostName 10.90.1.1
	Port 22
	IdentityFile ~/.ssh/keys/user2@file1

is a deal breaker for me.

Anyway, thank you @1P_Phil & Juraj Stolc for your replies

Cya.

floris_1P
1Password Employee
floris_1PAnswer
1Password Employee
Jul 23, 2025 11:16 AM UTC

Hey @stoutZero, you can in fact use `IdentitiesOnly yes` + `IdentityFile` with the 1Password SSH agent, but then point `IdentityFile` to the public key instead of the private key. The private key can be stored in 1Password with only the .pub file on disk.

stoutZero
stoutZeroAuthor
Jul 24, 2025 10:10 AM UTC

Yep! That works!

Right now there are no ssh private keys on disk, which is exactly what I wanted.

Thanks.