# Lookup in authorized\_key not finding the file

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/lookup-in-authorized-key-not-finding-the-file/8286>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Created:** [September 5, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lookup-in-authorized-key-not-finding-the-file/8286 "2024-09-05T17:32:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sandlayth](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/sandlayth/32/4656_2.png) [@Sandlayth](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Sandlayth)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lookup-in-authorized-key-not-finding-the-file/8286/1 "2024-09-05T17:32:07Z")

</div>

Hello everyone, I am very confused as I try to give the permission for a user to ssh to its local machine on its own user. I generate an ssh key on the target machine where the user is previously created and I in adding its public key to its authorized\_keys through the authorized\_key module.

```auto
fatal: [server-01]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The 'file' lookup had an issue accessing the file '/home/coolify/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub'. file not found, use -vvvvv to see paths searched"}

```

Here is the snippet of code that causes me the hardship (the first task is always successful):

```auto
- name: Generate SSH key for Coolify                                               
  community.crypto.openssh_keypair:                                                
    path: /home/coolify/.ssh/id_ed25519                                            
    type: ed25519                                                                  
    state: present                                                                 
    owner: coolify                                                                 
    group: coolify                                                                 
                                                                                   
- name: Add Coolify's public SSH key to authorized_keys                            
  authorized_key:                                                                  
    user: coolify                                                                  
    state: present                                                                 
    key: "{{ lookup('file', '/home/coolify/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub') }}"               
    become: yes                                                                    
    become_user: coolify      

```

I have in the first place forgot about the become, it did not work and I assumed it was a matter of rights as I am running the playbook with another user.  
I ran the playbook multiple times and it always fails at that step, whereas I have checked that the user had indeed its ssh keypair generated with the appropriate rights.

```auto
server-01:/home/coolify/.ssh# ll
total 16
drwx------ 2 coolify coolify 4096 Sep 5 16:58 ./
drwxr-x--- 4 coolify coolify 4096 Sep 5 17:10 ../
-rw------- 1 coolify coolify 387 Sep 5 16:58 id_ed25519
-rw-r--r-- 1 coolify coolify 82 Sep 5 16:58 id_ed25519.pub

```

```auto
server-01:/home/coolify# ll
total 28
drwxr-x--- 4 coolify coolify 4096 Sep 5 17:10 ./
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Sep 5 16:47 ../
drwxrwxr-x 3 coolify coolify 4096 Sep 5 17:10 .ansible/
-rw-r--r-- 1 coolify coolify 220 Mar 31 08:41 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r-- 1 coolify coolify 3771 Mar 31 08:41 .bashrc
-rw-r--r-- 1 coolify coolify 0 Jul 16 05:50 .cloud-locale-test.skip
-rw-r--r-- 1 coolify coolify 807 Mar 31 08:41 .profile
drwx------ 2 coolify coolify 4096 Sep 5 16:58 .ssh/

```

Any idea please?  
Thank you a lot in advance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lookup-in-authorized-key-not-finding-the-file/8286/2 "2024-09-05T20:49:26Z")

</div>

Is `server-01` also your ansible controller? Lookups run on the controller, not the targeted host(s). See the [synopsys](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/file_lookup.html#synopsis) for the file lookup.

If that is the issue:

You might need to use `ansible.builtin.fetch` to retrieve `/home/coolify/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub` first and store that somewhere. Then you can use `lookup('file',…)`.

Or you might use

```
ansible.builtin.command: cat /home/coolify/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
register: coolify_pub_key

```

then use `key: "{{ coolify_pub_key.stdout_lines[0] }}"` in your `authorized_key` task.

If that’s _not_ the issue, er, I’m out of ideas.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/lookup-in-authorized-key-not-finding-the-file/8286/3 "2024-10-05T20:49:51Z")

</div>

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