SSH keys in your account (blackbox.md)

How to save public SSH keys in your account for orders, servers and the AI assistant, what limits apply, and what the errors mean.

The “Chei SSH” (SSH keys) page (blackbox.md/account/ssh-keys, “Contul meu” (My account) → “Chei SSH”) stores the public SSH keys that you then choose when you order a new server, install on your existing servers, or use through the AI assistant. The page says: “Înregistrați chei publice SSH pe care le veți putea folosi la comanda serverelor noi și conecta prin asistentul AI (MCP). Cheia privată nu este niciodată transmisă sau stocată aici.” (Register public SSH keys that you can use when ordering new servers and connect through the AI assistant (MCP). The private key is never sent or stored here.)

Available to: any customer signed in to blackbox.md, for the keys in their own account.

The blackbox.md website is available in Romanian and Russian; this article quotes the Romanian labels with their English meaning.

Prepare your public key

An SSH key has two parts. The private part stays only on your computer. The public part (the file with the .pub extension) is the one you save in your account. If you don't have a key pair yet, follow Generating an SSH key (Windows, macOS, Linux).

To display your public key on Linux or macOS:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

On Windows (PowerShell):

Get-Content $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub

If your file has a different name (for example id_rsa.pub), use that name. Copy the whole line, which looks like ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3Nza… comment.

Warning Never paste your private key (the file without .pub, the .ppk file from PuTTY, or text that starts with -----BEGIN). The page rejects it, but in any case your private key must never leave your computer.

How to add a key

Sign in to blackbox.md and click “Cont client” (Customer account) in the top bar (on a phone, the circle with your initials).
In the left menu, choose “Chei SSH” (SSH keys). On a phone or tablet, open the menu with the “Meniu cont” (Account menu) button.
In the “Adaugă o cheie SSH” (Add an SSH key) card, fill in “Nume cheie” (Key name) with a name that helps you recognize the key, for example “Work laptop”. The field accepts at most 80 characters.
In “Cheie publică SSH” (Public SSH key), paste the line you copied. Below the field it says: “Lipiți conținutul fișierului .pub (ex. ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub). NU lipiți niciodată cheia privată.” (Paste the contents of the .pub file (e.g. ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub). NEVER paste the private key.)
Click “Adaugă cheia” (Add key). While the key is being saved, the button shows “Se adaugă…” (Adding…).
The fields are cleared, and the key appears first in the table. No other confirmation message is shown. If red text appears below the fields, look it up in the error table below.

Rules and limits

Rule	Value
Accepted types	`ssh-ed25519`, `ssh-rsa`, `ecdsa-sha2-nistp256`, `ecdsa-sha2-nistp384`, `ecdsa-sha2-nistp521`, `sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com`, `sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com` (the last two are FIDO hardware keys)
RSA keys	at least 2048 bits
Format	a single line, at most 16 KB
Name	required, at most 80 characters
Keys per account	at most 20
Duplicates	the same key is saved only once, even with a different name or a different comment
Additions	at most 10 attempts per hour; rejected attempts count too
Deletions	at most 20 attempts per hour

List of saved keys

Below the form, the table shows your keys, newest first:

Column	What it contains
“Nume” (Name)	the name you gave the key
“Tip” (Type)	the key type, for example `ssh-ed25519`
“Amprentă” (Fingerprint)	the key's SHA-256 fingerprint, in the `SHA256:…` format
“Adăugată” (Added)	the date and time the key was saved
—	the “Șterge” (Delete) button

When you have no keys, the page shows “Nu aveți încă chei SSH salvate.” (You don't have any saved SSH keys yet.)

To check that the fingerprint matches the key on your computer, run:

ssh-keygen -lf ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

On Windows (PowerShell):

ssh-keygen -lf $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub

The SHA256:… value in the output must be the same as the one in the “Amprentă” column.

Where you use saved keys

Saving a key in your account does not install it on any server. A saved key is used in three places:

Where	How
When you order a new server	In the “Cheie SSH pentru server” (SSH key for the server) step, under “Chei salvate” (Saved keys), check one or more keys (at most 10 keys per order in total, counting a pasted key too). Details in The SSH key at order time and “key-only” servers.
On an existing server	In the app.blackbox.md panel → “My Servers”, on the server card: “Add SSH key” → “Use a saved key”, choose the key from the “Select a key…” list, then “Add key”. The result is “Key added.” The steps are in Adding and removing SSH keys on the server.
Through the AI assistant (MCP)	With an API token that has the “Citește lista cheilor mele SSH” (Read the list of my SSH keys) permission, the assistant sees the list. With “Adaugă și șterge cheile mele SSH” (Add and delete my SSH keys), the assistant can add keys to your account and delete them. Installing a key on a server requires the “Vizualizează parolele/accesul serverelor” (View server passwords/access) permission. See SSH access and SSH keys through the AI assistant.

The “Cum funcționează conectarea AI (MCP) — ghid complet →” (How the AI (MCP) connection works — full guide →) link on the page opens the overview of the AI integration (blackbox.md/info/mcp).

How to delete a key from your account

In the table, click “Șterge” (Delete) on the key's row.
The “Ștergeți cheia SSH?” (Delete the SSH key?) window opens with the text “Ștergeți această cheie SSH? Dacă este deja instalată pe un server, accesul la acel server NU este afectat — cheia este ștearsă doar din contul dvs. blackbox.md.” (Delete this SSH key? If it is already installed on a server, access to that server is NOT affected — the key is deleted only from your blackbox.md account.)
Click “Șterge” to confirm, or “Anulează” (Cancel) to back out.
The button shows “Se șterge…” (Deleting…), then the row disappears from the table. If the row stays, the deletion failed (for example, you went over 20 deletion attempts per hour); no error message appears. Try again later.

Important Deleting a key from your account does NOT remove it from your servers: anyone who has the private key can still connect to the servers where it is installed. To revoke access, remove the key from each server: in the panel, “My Servers” → “Add SSH key” → the “Installed keys” list → “Remove”. In this list, the key appears with its comment and the beginning of its fingerprint, not with the name it has in your account.

Errors and messages

Message	What it means	What to do
“Aceasta pare a fi o cheie privată. Lipiți cheia publică (de regulă fișierul cu extensia .pub).” (This looks like a private key. Paste the public key (usually the file with the .pub extension).)	The text contains a private key.	Paste the contents of the `.pub` file.
“Tip de cheie neacceptat.” (Unsupported key type.)	The key type is not in the list (for example `ssh-dss`).	Generate an `ssh-ed25519` key.
“Cheia RSA este prea slabă — minim 2048 biți.” (The RSA key is too weak — 2048 bits minimum.)	An RSA key under 2048 bits.	Generate a new key, preferably `ssh-ed25519`.
“Cheia publică nu a putut fi recunoscută. Verificați că ați lipit exact o singură linie.” (The public key could not be recognized. Check that you pasted exactly one line.)	Several lines, an incomplete or damaged line, or text over 16 KB.	Copy the whole line from the `.pub` file again.
“Această cheie este deja adăugată în contul dvs.” (This key is already added to your account.)	The same key is already saved, possibly under a different name.	Use the existing key in the table.
“Ați atins limita de chei salvate.” (You have reached the limit of saved keys.)	You already have 20 keys.	Delete a key you no longer use.
“Introduceți un nume pentru cheie.” (Enter a name for the key.) / “Lipiți cheia publică.” (Paste the public key.)	A field is empty.	Fill in both fields.
“Nu am putut adăuga cheia.” (We couldn't add the key.)	Another error, including going over the limit of 10 add attempts per hour.	Wait an hour without trying again: every attempt during that time extends the block. If the error happens again, write to us.
“Eroare la încărcare.” (Loading error.) or another error text (sometimes in English) instead of the table	The list could not be loaded.	Reload the page or sign in again.
“Gestionarea cheilor SSH nu este disponibilă momentan.” (SSH key management is not available at the moment.)	The feature is temporarily unavailable; the page does not show the form.	Come back later. If the message persists, contact support (see How to contact BLACKBOX support).

Frequently asked questions

Does a saved key reach my servers automatically? No. You choose it when you order a new server, or you install it on an existing server with “Add SSH key” in the panel.

Can I rename a key? There is no rename button. Delete the key from your account and add it again with a different name. Keys already installed on servers are not affected.

I lost the laptop with my private key. What should I do? Generate a new key on another computer and install it on your servers from the panel. Then remove the old key from “Installed keys” on each server and, finally, from “Chei SSH” (SSH keys). If you no longer have access to a server, follow Lost access to your server (password or key).

I generated my key in PuTTYgen. What do I paste? Copy the text from the “Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file” field in PuTTYgen: a single line that starts with ssh-ed25519 or ssh-rsa. The file saved with “Save public key” starts with ---- BEGIN SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----, has several lines, and is rejected with the message “Cheia publică nu a putut fi recunoscută…” (The public key could not be recognized…).

Why do I get “Această cheie este deja adăugată în contul dvs.” (This key is already added to your account.) even though I used a different name? Keys are compared by their fingerprint. The name and the comment don't matter, so the same key cannot be saved twice.