Skip to main content

This version of GitHub Enterprise Server was discontinued on 2024-07-09. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise Server. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Error: ssh-add: illegal option -- apple-use-keychain

This error means your version of ssh-add does not support macOS keychain integration, which allows you to store your passphrase in the keychain.

The --apple-use-keychain option is in Apple's standard version of ssh-add, which stores the passphrase in your keychain for you when you add an ssh key to the ssh-agent. If you have installed a different version of ssh-add, it may lack support for --apple-use-keychain.

Solving the issue

To add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent, you can specify the path to the Apple version of ssh-add:

/usr/bin/ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Notes:

  • The --apple-use-keychain option is in Apple's standard version of ssh-add. In macOS versions prior to Monterey (12.0), use -K instead of --apple-use-keychain.
  • If you created your key with a different name, or if you are adding an existing key that has a different name, replace id_ed25519 in the command with the name of your private key file.

Further reading