cli/cli · error

loading ssh config: %w

Error message

loading ssh config: %w

What it means

Returned by firstConfiguredKeyPair while scanning 'ssh -G' output for identityfile entries: the first configured IdentityFile was found, but keypairForPrivateKey failed on it for a reason other than the file not existing (which is skipped with continue). This means the key path exists but cannot be turned into a usable KeyPair.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cmd/codespace/ssh.go:513

	sshGCmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, sshExe, sshGArgs...)
	configBytes, err := sshGCmd.Output()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not load ssh configuration: %w", err)
	}

	configLines := strings.Split(string(configBytes), "\n")
	for _, line := range configLines {
		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)

		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "identityfile ") {
			privateKeyPath := strings.SplitN(line, " ", 2)[1]

			keypair, err := keypairForPrivateKey(privateKeyPath)
			if errors.Is(err, errKeyFileNotFound) {
				continue
			}
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("loading ssh config: %w", err)
			}

			return keypair, nil
		}
	}

	return nil, errKeyFileNotFound
}

// keypairForPrivateKey returns the KeyPair with the specified private key if it and the public key both exist
func keypairForPrivateKey(privateKeyPath string) (*ssh.KeyPair, error) {
	if strings.HasPrefix(privateKeyPath, "~") {
		userHomeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting home dir: %w", err)
		}

		// os.Stat can't handle ~, so convert it to the real path

View on GitHub (pinned to 0eeec0b92e)

Solutions

1. Ensure HOME (Unix) / USERPROFILE (Windows) is set in the shell running gh
2. Replace '~'-relative IdentityFile paths with absolute paths in ssh config
3. Check the wrapped error text to see which key path failed and fix or remove that IdentityFile entry

if os.Getenv("HOME") == "" && runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
    return errors.New("HOME unset; tilde IdentityFile paths cannot expand")
}

When it happens

Trigger: An 'identityfile <path>' line is present in the ssh -G output and keypairForPrivateKey(privateKeyPath) returns an error that is not errKeyFileNotFound, e.g. os.UserHomeDir() failing while expanding a '~' prefixed path.

Common situations: HOME or USERPROFILE environment variable unset so '~/.ssh/id_rsa' cannot expand; key path with '~' in a position where replacement produces an invalid path.

Related errors

• remote command: %w
• checking configured keys: %w
• could not find ssh executable: %w
• could not load ssh configuration: %w
• getting home dir: %w

AI-assisted analysis of cli/cli@0eeec0b92e (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/42e7ec195c612b7b. Report an issue: GitHub.