SSH Access

SSH keys let you connect directly to InstaVM VMs from your terminal. Add your public key once and SSH into any VM on your account.

Add an SSH key

CLI

# Add from default key
instavm ssh-key add

# Or specify the key directly
instavm ssh-key add "ssh-rsa AAAA... user@host"

Python

from instavm import InstaVM

client = InstaVM('your_api_key')

result = client.ssh.add_key(
    public_key="ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC..."
)

print(f"Key ID: {result.get('key_id')}")
print(f"Fingerprint: {result.get('fingerprint')}")

JavaScript

import { InstaVM } from 'instavm';

const client = new InstaVM('your_api_key');
const result = await client.ssh.addKey({
  public_key: 'ssh-rsa AAAA... user@host',
});
console.log(result);

List SSH keys

CLI

instavm ssh-key list

Python

keys = client.ssh.list_keys()

for key in keys:
    print(f"{key.get('key_id')}: {key.get('fingerprint')}")

JavaScript

import { InstaVM } from 'instavm';

const client = new InstaVM('your_api_key');
const keys = await client.ssh.listKeys();
for (const key of keys) {
  console.log(`${key.id}: ${key.name}`);
}

Delete an SSH key

CLI

instavm ssh-key remove 123

Python

client.ssh.delete_key(key_id=123)

JavaScript

import { InstaVM } from 'instavm';

const client = new InstaVM('your_api_key');
await client.ssh.deleteKey(123);

Generate an SSH key pair

If you do not have a key pair:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Connect to a VM

Create a VM and use the returned SSH connection details:

CLI

instavm create
instavm connect <vm_id>

Python

client = InstaVM('your_api_key')
vm = client.vms.create(wait=True)

ssh_host = vm.get('ssh_host')
ssh_user = vm.get('ssh_user')
ssh_port = vm.get('ssh_port', 22)

print(f"ssh {ssh_user}@{ssh_host} -p {ssh_port}")

JavaScript

import { InstaVM } from 'instavm';

const client = new InstaVM('your_api_key');
const vm = await client.vms.create({}, true);
console.log(`ssh ${vm.ssh_user}@${vm.ssh_host} -p ${vm.ssh_port}`);

Then from your terminal:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa user@vm-host.example.com -p 22

Key management notes

• Keys are bound to your account, not individual VMs.
• All keys on your account work across all your VMs.
• Delete unused keys regularly.
• Never share private keys. Only upload the .pub file.

Error handling

CLI

# CLI exits with non-zero status and prints errors to stderr
instavm ssh-key add "invalid-key-format"
# Error: Invalid SSH public key format

Python

from instavm import InstaVM, InstaVMError

client = InstaVM('your_api_key')

try:
    client.ssh.add_key(public_key="invalid_key")
except InstaVMError as e:
    print(f"Failed: {e}")

JavaScript

import { InstaVM, InstaVMError } from 'instavm';

const client = new InstaVM('your_api_key');
try {
  await client.ssh.addKey({ public_key: 'invalid' });
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof InstaVMError) {
    console.error(`SSH key error: ${error.message}`);
  }
}

Next steps

• REST API: SSH Keys -- API endpoints
• Python SDK: Egress & Networking -- SSH key management in the SDK