SSH - Calevin/Conocimientos GitHub Wiki

ssh-agent and ssh-add

ssh-agent is a background program that handles passwords for SSH private keys

The ssh-add command prompts the user for a private key password and adds it to the list maintained by ssh-agent.

Once you add a password to ssh-agent, you will not be prompted for it when using SSH or scp to connect to hosts with your public key.

$ eval $(ssh-agent)
$ ssh-add

FUENTE: About ssh-agent and ssh-add in Unix