Git: How to solve Permission denied (publickey) error when using Git?

I'm on Mac Snow Leopard and I just installed git.

I just tried

git clone git@thechaw.com:cakebook.git

but that gives me this error:

Initialized empty Git repository in `/Users/username/Documents/cakebook/.git/`
Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

What am I missing?
I've also tried doing ssh-keygen with no passphase but still same error.

Solution

If the user has not generated a ssh public/private key pair set before

This info is working on theChaw but can be applied to all other git repositories which support SSH pubkey authentications. (See [gitolite][1], gitlab or github for example.)

First start by setting up your own public/private key pair set. This can use either DSA or RSA, so basically any key you setup will work. On most systems you can use ssh-keygen.

First you'll want to cd into your .ssh directory. Open up the terminal and run:

cd ~/.ssh && ssh-keygen

Next you need to copy this to your clipboard.

On OS X run: cat id_rsa.pub | pbcopy

On Linux run: cat id_rsa.pub | xclip

On Windows (via Cygwin/Git Bash) run: cat id_rsa.pub | clip

On Windows (Powershell) run: Get-Content id_rsa.pub | Set-Clipboard (Thx to @orion elenzil)

Add your key to your account via the website.

Finally setup your .gitconfig.

git config --global user.name "bob"

git config --global user.email bob@... (don't forget to restart your command line to make sure the config is reloaded)

That's it you should be good to clone and checkout.

Further information can be found at https://help.github.com/articles/generating-ssh-keys (thanks to @Lee Whitney) [1]: https://github.com/sitaramc/gitolite

If the user has generated a ssh public/private key pair set before

check which key have been authorized on your github or gitlab account settings
determine which corresponding private key must be associated from your local computer

eval $(ssh-agent -s)

define where the keys are located

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa