Connecting via SSH

1. Generate a key (if you don’t have one)

macOS / Linux

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@gpuoutlet.com"

Windows (PowerShell)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@gpuoutlet.com"

Accept the default location. Either skip the passphrase (faster) or set one (more secure — recommended for shared machines). The command creates two files:

~/.ssh/id_ed25519 — your private key. Never share. Never paste anywhere.
~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub — your public key. Safe to share.

2. Add the public key

macOS

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | pbcopy

Linux (with xclip)

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | xclip -selection clipboard

Windows PowerShell

Get-Content ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | Set-Clipboard

Now in the dashboard: Settings → SSH keys → + Add key. Paste, give it a name (macbook-2026), save.

3. Connect to an instance

After launching a pod, the modal shows something like:

ssh root@123.45.67.89 -p 22001

That line only carries the address — it doesn’t include your key, because we don’t know its filename on your machine. Connect with your private key (the one whose public half you added in step 2) using -i:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 root@123.45.67.89 -p 22001
# The authenticity of host '[123.45.67.89]:22001' can't be established.
# ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:abc…
# Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
# Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04 …
root@gpu-pod-01:~#

Confirm yes at the fingerprint prompt the first time.

Replace ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 with your own private-key path. If you created a dedicated key (e.g. ~/.ssh/gpuoutlet_ed25519), point -i at it:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/gpuoutlet_ed25519 root@123.45.67.89 -p 22001

You can omit -i only if the key you added is your default ~/.ssh/id_ed25519. Otherwise SSH offers the wrong key and you get Permission denied (publickey) — when in doubt, pass -i explicitly.

4. Save the connection in your SSH config

If you’ll reconnect often:

~/.ssh/config

Host gpu-rtx4090
    HostName 123.45.67.89
    Port 22001
    User root
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    StrictHostKeyChecking no
    UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null

Then just ssh gpu-rtx4090. StrictHostKeyChecking no + the /dev/null known_hosts trick is reasonable here because every rental gets a fresh IP and you’d otherwise build up a giant known_hosts that you’d have to clear.

Troubleshooting

Permission denied (publickey)

Your local key isn’t matching any of the keys you’ve added. Verify:

ssh-add -L | grep ed25519

Should match the key you pasted in the dashboard. If it doesn’t, you may have multiple keys — pass -i explicitly:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 root@host -p 22001

Connection timed out

Three causes:

Pod still provisioning — wait until status says running in the dashboard
Wrong port — every pod gets a random high port. Check the modal.
Your firewall — corporate VPNs sometimes block outbound on non-standard ports. Test from a different network.

Connection refused

Pod’s SSH daemon isn’t up yet — happens during the last 5 seconds of provisioning. Wait, retry.

My key worked yesterday, doesn't today

You probably deleted the key from the dashboard and launched a new pod. New pods only see the keys present at the moment of launch. Re-add the key, launch a fresh pod.

Multiple keys, want to use a specific one

Either use -i ~/.ssh/specific_key per-command or pin it in ~/.ssh/config per-host (see above).

Copying files

Local → pod (entire folder)

rsync -avz --progress ./project root@host:/root/ -e "ssh -p 22001"

Pod → local (single file)

scp -P 22001 root@host:/root/output.bin ./

Pod → S3 (from inside the pod)

aws s3 cp /root/model.safetensors s3://your-bucket/

Port forwarding (Jupyter, vLLM web UI, etc.)

If you’re running Jupyter on port 8888 inside the pod and want it on localhost:8888 locally:

ssh -L 8888:localhost:8888 root@host -p 22001

Then open http://localhost:8888 in your browser.

Get started

Core concepts

Guides

Reference

1. Generate a key (if you don’t have one)

2. Add the public key

3. Connect to an instance

4. Save the connection in your SSH config

Troubleshooting

Copying files

Port forwarding (Jupyter, vLLM web UI, etc.)

​1. Generate a key (if you don’t have one)

​2. Add the public key

​3. Connect to an instance

​4. Save the connection in your SSH config

​Troubleshooting

​Copying files

​Port forwarding (Jupyter, vLLM web UI, etc.)

1. Generate a key (if you don’t have one)

2. Add the public key

3. Connect to an instance

4. Save the connection in your SSH config

Troubleshooting

Copying files

Port forwarding (Jupyter, vLLM web UI, etc.)