pair

Pair with a discovered device or direct IP.

Usage

connecto pair <TARGET>

Arguments

Options

Description

The pair command establishes SSH key-based authentication with a remote device:

1. Generates a new Ed25519 SSH key pair
2. Sends the public key to the target device
3. Saves the private key to ~/.ssh/connecto_<hostname>
4. Updates ~/.ssh/config for easy ssh hostname access

Examples

Pair by Device Number

After running connecto scan:

connecto pair 0

Output:

  CONNECTO PAIRING

→ Connecting to 192.168.1.55:8099...
→ Using Ed25519 key (modern, secure, fast)

✓ Pairing successful!

Key saved:
  • Private: /home/user/.ssh/connecto_mydesktop
  • Public:  /home/user/.ssh/connecto_mydesktop.pub

✓ Added to ~/.ssh/config as 'mydesktop'

You can now connect with:

  ssh mydesktop

Pair by IP Address

Skip scanning and pair directly:

connecto pair 192.168.1.55:8099

Or with just the IP (uses default port 8099):

connecto pair 192.168.1.55

What gets created

SSH key pair

• Private key: ~/.ssh/connecto_<hostname>
• Public key: ~/.ssh/connecto_<hostname>.pub

Keys use Ed25519 by default (modern, secure, fast).

SSH config entry

An entry is added to ~/.ssh/config:

# Added by Connecto
Host mydesktop
    HostName 192.168.1.55
    User john
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/connecto_mydesktop
    IdentitiesOnly yes

This allows simple ssh mydesktop without specifying user, IP, or key.

Re-pairing

If you pair with a device that already has an entry:

1. The old key files are overwritten
2. The SSH config entry is updated
3. A new key exchange occurs

This is useful when:

• The remote machine was reinstalled
• You want to refresh the keys
• The IP address changed

Using existing keys

Instead of generating a new key for each pairing, you can use an existing SSH key.

One-time usage

connecto pair 0 --key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Set default key

Set a default key for all future pairings:

connecto config set-default-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Now all connecto pair commands will use this key automatically.

Clear default key

Return to generating new keys:

connecto config clear-default-key

Priority order

When pairing, Connecto looks for keys in this order:

1. --key flag (if specified)
2. Config default key (if set)
3. Generate new key (default behavior)

After pairing

Connect immediately:

ssh mydesktop

Or verify the pairing:

connecto test mydesktop