# create a git user

on debian, `sudo adduser git`

switch to git user with `sudo su -l git`

create a `.ssh` dir in the git user's home dir and make it only accessible by the git user

```
mkdir ~/.ssh
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
```

create an `authorized_keys` file in the `.ssh` folder, and make it accessible only by the git user

```
touch .ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 `.ssh/authorized_keys`
```

create a private/public key pair locally to authenticate a user on a machine to connect to the remote server

```
ssh-keygen -t rsa
```

and finally copy it into the (remote) git user's `.ssh/authorized_keys`, for example using `ssh-copy-id` or giving the public key to the server administrator.

# creating bare git repositories

create directories within git's home dir (nested paths are allowed) with the `.git` extension, for example `my-projects/my-repo.git` or just `my-repo.git`.

```
git init --bare repo.git
```

there now exists an empty git repository on the server.

the remote can now be added to a local repository

```
git remote add origin git@server:my-repo.git
git push -u origin main
```

# connecting using the key

add an entry to your local `.ssh/config`

```
Host myhost
    HostName        example.com
    User            git
    IdentityFile    ~/.ssh/id_rsa
```

and connect with

```
ssh myhost
```