CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES(3)

💅 CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES(3) — bestie's guide to SFTP/SCP auth

okay so this is page CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES(3) from the Library Functions Manual, and it's literally the glow-up your SSH connections needed ✨

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🌸 NAME

CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES — the auth types you get to use for SFTP and SCP 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES, long bitmask);

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💖 DESCRIPTION

bestie, you pass a long here, and it's set to a bitmask — like a little stack of auth vibes you're combining together 🫶 — made of one or more of these:

• CURLSSH_AUTH_PUBLICKEY
• CURLSSH_AUTH_PASSWORD
• CURLSSH_AUTH_HOST
• CURLSSH_AUTH_KEYBOARD
• CURLSSH_AUTH_AGENT

You can also set CURLSSH_AUTH_ANY to let libcurl pick a suitable one, like "you choose for me, king" 👑.

and now the messy parts, no cap:

• Currently CURLSSH_AUTH_HOST has no effect. it's giving decorative. 💀
• If CURLSSH_AUTH_AGENT is used, libcurl attempts to connect to ssh-agent or pageant and lets the agent attempt the authentication. agent energy, main character stuff 🧚

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⭐ DEFAULT

CURLSSH_AUTH_ANY (all available) — literally all of them, she's generous 🌈

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🔥 PROTOCOLS

This functionality affects scp and sftp 💜

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✨ EXAMPLE

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "sftp://example.com/file");
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES,
                     CURLSSH_AUTH_PUBLICKEY | CURLSSH_AUTH_KEYBOARD);
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }
}

look at her go, combining CURLSSH_AUTH_PUBLICKEY and CURLSSH_AUTH_KEYBOARD with a | like an absolute icon 🎀

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🕰️ HISTORY

okay history lesson time, sit down 📚 — the CURLSSH_AUTH_* macros became long types in 8.16.0. Prior to that version, a long cast was necessary when passed to curl_easy_setopt(3). so glow-up era, basically ✨

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🐣 AVAILABILITY

Added in curl 7.16.1 — vintage but still slaying 💅

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💫 RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK 🤩, non-zero means an error occurred 😭 — see libcurl-errors(3).

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👀 SEE ALSO

• CURLOPT_SSH_HOST_PUBLIC_KEY_MD5(3)
• CURLOPT_SSH_HOST_PUBLIC_KEY_SHA256(3)
• CURLOPT_SSH_PUBLIC_KEYFILE(3)

the friend group fr fr 🫶

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💀 reminder bestie: CURLSSH_AUTH_HOST currently does nothing. don't be out here expecting it to work, iykyk.

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that's the whole page, mwah 😘 — brought to you by libcurl, dated 2026-10-12, and filed under CURLOPT_SSH_AUTH_TYPES(3). go forth and authenticate, queen 👑💖