Git clone from a private repo

Standard git clone

git clone https://github.com/REPO_YOU_WANT_TO_GET.git

Cloning into 'REPO_NAME'...
Username for 'https://github.com': INPUT_GITHUB_USER_NAME
Password for ...
remote: Support for password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021.
remote: Please see https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/about-remote-repositories#cloning-with-https-urls for information on currently recommended modes of authentication.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/REPO_YOU_WANT_TO_GET.git/'

How to fix that?

Long story short, the password above prompt asked was the token rather than the Github account password

Generate a token

On the Github page, go to Settings -> Developer Settings -> Personal access tokens -> Tokens(classic) -> Generate new token

Once generated a new token, go back to terminal, do

git clone https://github.com/REPO_YOU_WANT_TO_GET.git

And put the token as the password. DONE!

Long attempt that doesn't work...

0. Checking for existing SSH keys ^[1]

ls -al ~/.ssh # Lists the files in your .ssh directory, if they exist

• If you don't have a supported public and private key pair, or don't wish to use any that are available, generate a new SSH key.

• If you see an existing public and private key pair listed (for example, id_rsa.pub and id_rsa) that you would like to use to connect to GitHub, you can add the key to the ssh-agent.

1. Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent ^[2]

Generate

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (~/.ssh/id_rsa): ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): PUT_SOMTHING_HERE
Enter same passphrase again: PUT_SOMTHING_HERE
Your identification has been saved in ~/.ssh//id_rsa_github
Your public key has been saved in ~/.ssh//id_rsa_github.pub
The key fingerprint is: SECRETE
The key's randomart image is:

This step will generate private key id_rsa and public key id_rsa.pub.

2. Add SSH key to the ssh-agent

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

Agent pid XXXX

Then modify config file to automatically load keys into the ssh-agent and store passphrases in your keychain.

nano ~/.ssh/config

Inside config

Host github.com
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  UseKeychain yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github

Then

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github

3. Add a new SSH key to your GitHub account ^[3]

After you generate an SSH key pair, you must add the public key to GitHub.com to enable SSH access for your account.

Obtain the public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github.pub

Then go to the Github page, Settings -> SSH and GPG keys -> New SSH key, paste the public key starting with ssh-rsa, then click Add SHH key

Result:

This attempt failed when I tried to clone via SSH

git clone git@github.com:THE_REPO_I_WANT.git

Cloning into 'GitRepo_name'...
~/.ssh/config: line 3: Bad configuration option: usekeychain
~/.ssh/config: terminating, 1 bad configuration options
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

---

1. https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/checking-for-existing-ssh-keys ↩︎

2. https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent ↩︎

3. https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/adding-a-new-ssh-key-to-your-github-account ↩︎