authkeyman

A simple command-line tool to make managing your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file easier.

• authkeyman
  • Features
  • Install
  • Uninstall
  • Usage
    • Add Keys
    • Remove Keys
    • List Keys
    • Perform Actions on Other Users

Features

• Add keys to your authorized_keys file.
• Remove keys from your authorized_keys file by key comment.
• Add and remove keys from other users when running as root.

Install

If you don't need to manage other users' authorized_keys files, then simply install with pipx:

pipx install authkeyman

Otherwise, install the tool system-wide by running this command:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TacticalLaptopBag/authkeyman/refs/heads/main/curl-install.sh | sudo bash

Uninstall

If you installed with pipx, simply use that to uninstall:

pipx uninstall authkeyman

If you installed using the curl-install.sh script, use this command:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TacticalLaptopBag/authkeyman/refs/heads/main/curl-uninstall.sh | sudo bash

Usage

Add Keys

Add keys to the authorized_keys file:

authkeyman add "ssh-ed25519 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX your-key-name"

Note that the key is wrapped in quotes.

You can also add multiple keys at once by stringing them together:

authkeyman add "ssh-ed25519 ... key1" "ssh-ed25519 ... key2" ...

Remove Keys

Remove keys from the authorized_keys file by using its comment:

authkeyman remove your-key-name

You can remove multiple keys at once:

authkeyman remove key1 key2

You can also use partial comments and authkeyman will prompt you if the matching key is the one you want to remove:

authkeyman remove key-name

No keys found commented with 'key-name', but a similar key was found:
your-key-name

Would you like to use this one instead? (y/N):

If multiple keys match, it will ask you to make a decision:

authkeyman remove key

No keys found commented with 'key', but these similar keys were found:
[0]: key1
[1]: key2

Which one would you like to use instead? (Default 0, make a selection 0-1): 

Running this command with -y will skip the prompt and remove the key. If multiple keys match, it will delete the first key that matches.

List Keys

Lists all key comments in the authorized_keys file:

authkeyman list

Keys in /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys:
key1
key2

Perform Actions on Other Users

You can run all of these commands on other users when running authkeyman as root and specifying the --user flag:

sudo authkeyman --user user1 add "ssh-ed25519 ... user1s-key"

You can add additional --user flags to specify multiple users:

sudo authkeyman --user user1 --user user2 add "ssh-ed25519 ... users-key"

Note that the --user flags must come directly after authkeyman and cannot come after a subcommand.