ax ssh fails when too many ssh keys already exist

[er4z0r]

Background:

• using the latest ax version (ax update says it is fine)
• using Digital Ocean
• I have several ssh private keys for different purposes

Problem

When I try to connect to my fleet instances I receive an error message:

ax ssh <targetinstance>
Received disconnect from xxx.xxx.xxx.xx port 2266:2: Too many authentication failures
Disconnected from xxx.xxx.xxx.xx port 2266

This is usually a clear indication that ssh is trying all my private keys before it reaches the one configured in ~/.axiom/axiom.json. I was able to confirm this by removing all my keys from the ssh-agent, which results in axiom connecting normally.

Workaround

I managed to fix the problem by:

1. ax ssh --just-generate (to generate ~/.axiom/.sshconfig)
2. ax ssh --just-generate cache (to prevent ax from overwriting my modified config)
3. Modify ~/.axiom/.sshconfig by adding: IdentitiesOnly yes right below the line that says IdentityFile
4. Retry ax ssh <targetinstance> this time with success

Suggested fix

Since ax is using a specific pubkey anyway, it might make sense to add that IdentitiesOnly yes to .sshconfig by default.

[0xtavian]

Hey @er4z0r!

I apologize for the delay, and thank you so much for reporting! I plan on testing and patching this over the weekend. Thanks again!