Add expiration date support for SSH keys

[monperrus]

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Product Feedback

Body

GitHub should allow users to set an optional expiration date when adding SSH keys to their account or as deploy keys. This would improve security for automation workflows and temporary access scenarios. This feature would align GitHub's SSH key management with industry best practices and other credential types already supported on the platform.

Problem

Currently, SSH keys uploaded to GitHub remain valid indefinitely until manually deleted. This creates security risks:

• Forgotten keys from old CI/CD systems remain active
• Temporary contractor access requires manual cleanup
• Automated systems must implement custom deletion logic
• No native way to enforce key rotation policies

Proposed solution

Add an optional "Expiration date" field when creating SSH keys.

• High priority: REST API for user keys (POST /user/keys)
• High priority: REST API for repo deploy keys API (POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/keys)
• Low priority: Web UI (Settings > SSH and GPG keys)

When a key expires:

• Automatically removed from the account/repository
• User receives email notification 7 days before expiration
• API returns clear error message when expired key is used

Benefits

• Reduces attack surface from stale keys
• Simplifies compliance with security policies requiring key rotation
• Eliminates need for custom cleanup scripts
• Better support for ephemeral CI/CD workflows

Example API request

POST /user/keys
{
  "title": "CI Server",
  "key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA...",
  "expires_at": "2026-02-01T00:00:00Z"
}

[github-actions[bot]]

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