I like to use Git with SSH in PowerShell. However, I set this stack up so infrequently that when I do set it up I invariably miss some detail that makes the process harder than I would like. To help future me here’s how I installed and configured Git and SSH in PowerShell with posh-git.

Install Chocolatey

We’re going to use Chocolately to install Git and friends, but first we need to install Chocolatey itself. From an Administrative PowerShell prompt run the following commands.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Install Git, Posh-Git, and Putty

With Chocolatey installed we can easily install Git, posh-git, and Putty. From the same Adminstrative PowerShell prompt run the following commands.

choco install -y git -params '"/GitAndUnixToolsOnPath"'
choco install -y poshgit
choco install -y putty

Create SSH Keys

First we need a place to save our public and private keys. Using PowerShell run the following to create the ~\.ssh directory in the proper location.

cd ~
mkdir .ssh

Now launch PuTTYgen from PowerShell.

puttygen

Then in PuTTYgen.

  1. Click Generate to create the public key
  2. Fill in Key comment with an identifier, such as an email address
  3. Enter a passphrase in Key passphrase and Confirm passphrase
  4. Click Save private key and save it as ~\.ssh\github.ppk
  5. Click Save public key and save it as ~\.ssh\github.pub
  6. Click Conversions > Export OpenSSH and save it as .ssh\github_rsa
  7. Replace the contents of ~\.ssh\github_pub with the public key shown in PuTTYgen

Next create an ~\.ssh\config file containg the following.

Host github.com
    Port 22
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/github_rsa

Finally, follow your hosting providers instructions to add your public SSH key to your account. (e.g., Github, Bitbucket).

Add Private Key To SSH-Agent

To avoid entering our password each time we git pull, push, or fetch we’ll now modify our PowerShell profile to start ssh-agent and add our private key to the ssh-agent.

In PowerShell execute the following to open your profile in Visual Studio Code.

code $PROFILE

Locate the line where the posh-git module is loaded. It should look something like this.

Import-Module 'C:\tools\poshgit\dahlbyk-posh-git-a4faccd\src\posh-git.psd1'

Below the import add the commands to start the ssh-agent and to add your key.

Import-Module 'C:\tools\poshgit\dahlbyk-posh-git-a4faccd\src\posh-git.psd1'
Start-SshAgent
Add-SshKey (Resolve-Path ~\.ssh\github_rsa)

Save your modifications.

Now when you open a PowerShell Prompt you will be prompted to enter the password for your private ssh key and will not be required to repeatedly enter it while working with Git.

Customize Posh-Git PowerShell Prompt

The last (optional) step is to customize your prompt to make it easier to read and a bit more informative. Fortunately, posh-git provides options to customize the prompt. Simply add the following to your PowerShell profile and restart PowerShell.

# change the prompt foreground color
$GitPromptSettings.DefaultForegroundColor = "DarkCyan"
# make the prompt span two lines and change the prompt character to `$`
$GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptSuffix = '`n$(''$'' * ($nestedPromptLevel + 1)) '
# prefix the prompt with "username@hostname"
$GitPromptSettings.DefaultPromptPrefix = '$env:USERNAME@$(hostname) '

When the PowerShell working directory is also a Git repo this will cause the prompt to look similar to this.

username@hostname C:\dev\git-repo [master ≡ +1 ~1 -0 !]
$