Set up Repository Access keys on Windows

Add access keys to your Bitbucket Cloud repositories to allow a user or service to authenticate when pulling or cloning a repository over SSH. For example, you may want to use an access key to authenticate with Bitbucket when a build server checks out and tests your code. 

An access key has the following features and limitations:

• Grant read-only access to a public or private repository.

• Don't require additional users on your plan.

• Can be added to multiple repositories.

• Can't also be associated with an account.

• Don't require a passphrase when used for automated processes.

Before you can add an access key to a repository, you'll need to generate a unique SSH key just as you would for your individual account. To generate and add an SSH key:

Download and install Git for Windows

1. Download and run the installer from https://gitforwindows.org/. The options at each step should be suitable. When you reach the step about choosing the SSH executable, ensure the bundled OpenSSH is selected.

2. Once the installation is complete, open Git Bash from the Start menu.

Install Git for Windows with winget

To install OpenSSH as part of Git for Windows with the Windows package manager winget:

1. Check that winget is installed. Open PowerShell and run:

   1 winget -v

2. To install Git for Windows using winget install, run:

   1 winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget

3. Once the installation is complete, open Git Bash from the Start menu.

Install the Windows version of OpenSSH

To install the Windows version of OpenSSH, follow the instructions in the Microsoft Docs Get Started with OpenSSH for Windows guide. Once OpenSSH is installed, you need to configure Git to use OpenSSH.

To find where ssh was installed, run Get-Command. For example:

To configure Git to use the Windows version of OpenSSH, update the SSH command with git config, such as:

To allow git to use your SSH key, an SSH agent needs to be running on your device. The method for starting the SSH agent depends on how OpenSSH was installed.

Git for Windows users (including Winget-based Git installations)

From a git bash terminal, check if the SSH agent is running using the ps command. If the ssh-agent is already running, it should appear in the output, such as:

To start the agent:

You may need to add this command to your ~/.bashrc to ensure the agent starts when you open a Git Bash terminal.

Windows OpenSSH users

From a PowerShell, check if the SSH Agent is running using the Get-Service command. For example:

To start the agent:

To configure the SSH agent to start each time the device is started, use the Set-Service command, such as:

To create an SSH key pair:

1. Open a terminal and navigate to your home or user directory using cd, for example:

   1 cd ~

2. Generate a SSH key pair using ssh-keygen, such as:

   1 ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -b 4096 -C "{username@emaildomain.com}" -f {ssh-key-name}

   Where:

   • {username@emaildomain.com} is the email address associated with the Bitbucket Cloud account, such as your work email account.

   • {ssh-key-name} is the output filename for the keys. We recommend using a identifiable name such as bitbucket_work.

3. When prompted to Enter passphrase, you can either provide a password or leave the password empty. If you input a password, you will be prompted for this password each time SSH is used, such as using Git command that contact Bitbucket Cloud (such as git push, git pull, and git fetch). Providing a password will prevent other users with access to the device from using your keys.

Once complete, ssh-keygen will output two files:

• {ssh-key-name} — the private key.

• {ssh-key-name}.pub — the public key.

To add the SSH key to your SSH agent (ssh-agent):

1. Run the following command, replacing the {ssh-key-name} with the name of the private key:

   1 ssh-add ~/{ssh-key-name}

2. To ensure the correct SSH key is used when connecting to Bitbucket, update or create your SSH configuration file (~/.ssh/config) with the following settings:

   1 2 3 Host bitbucket.org AddKeysToAgent yes IdentityFile ~/.ssh/{ssh-key-name}

   Where {ssh-key-name} is the location of the private key file once it has been added to the ssh-agent.

To add an SSH key to a Bitbucket repository:

1. At bitbucket.org, navigate to the repository and select Repository settings.

2. Under Security, select Access keys.

3. Select Add key.

4. In the Add SSH key dialog, provide a Label to help you identify which key you are adding. For example, Work Laptop <Manufacturer> <Model>. A meaning full label will help you identify old or unwanted keys in the future.

5. Open the public SSH key file (public keys have the .pub file extension) in a text editor. The public key should be in the .ssh/ directory of your user (or home) directory. The contents will be similar to:

   1 ssh-ed25529 LLoWYaPswHzVqQ7L7B07LzIJbntgmHqrE40t17nGXL71QX9IoFGKYoF5pJKUMvR+DZotTm user@example.com

6. Copy the contents of the public key file and paste the key into the Key field of the Add SSH key dialog.

7. Select Add SSH key.

   • If the key is added successfully, the dialog will close and the key will be listed on the Access keys page.

   • If you receive the error That SSH key is invalid, check that you copied the entire contents of the public key (.pub file).

To test that the SSH key was added successfully, open a terminal on your device and run the following command:

If SSH can successfully connect with Bitbucket using your SSH keys, the command will produce output similar to: