diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabForgeFactory.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabForgeFactory.java
index 9bb6ce359..e05e00302 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabForgeFactory.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabForgeFactory.java
@@ -27,9 +27,13 @@
 import org.openjdk.skara.json.JSONObject;
 import org.openjdk.skara.json.JSONValue;
 
+import java.io.*;
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.nio.file.*;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 public class GitLabForgeFactory implements ForgeFactory {
@@ -43,6 +47,33 @@ public Set<String> knownHosts() {
         return Set.of("gitlab.com");
     }
 
+    private void configureSshKey(String userName, String hostName, String sshKey) {
+        var cfgPath = Path.of(System.getProperty("user.home"), ".ssh");
+        var cfgFile = cfgPath.resolve("config");
+        var existing = "";
+        try {
+            existing = Files.readString(cfgFile, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        } catch (IOException ignored) {
+        }
+
+        var userHost = userName + "." + hostName;
+        var existingBlock = Pattern.compile("^Match host " + Pattern.quote(userHost) + "(?:\\R[ \\t]+.*)+", Pattern.MULTILINE);
+        var existingMatcher = existingBlock.matcher(existing);
+        var filtered = existingMatcher.replaceAll("");
+        var result = "Match host " + userHost + "\n" +
+                "  Hostname " + hostName + "\n" +
+                "  PreferredAuthentications publickey\n" +
+                "  StrictHostKeyChecking no\n" +
+                "  IdentityFile " + sshKey + "\n" +
+                "\n";
+
+        try {
+            Files.writeString(cfgFile, result + filtered.strip() + "\n", StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new UncheckedIOException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Forge create(URI uri, Credential credential, JSONObject configuration) {
         var name = "GitLab";
@@ -56,10 +87,15 @@ public Forge create(URI uri, Credential credential, JSONObject configuration) {
                                   .map(JSONValue::asString)
                                   .collect(Collectors.toSet());
         }
+        var useSsh = false;
+        if (configuration != null && configuration.contains("sshkey") && credential != null) {
+            configureSshKey(credential.username(), uri.getHost(), configuration.get("sshkey").asString());
+            useSsh = true;
+        }
         if (credential != null) {
-            return new GitLabHost(name, uri, credential, groups);
+            return new GitLabHost(name, uri, useSsh, credential, groups);
         } else {
-            return new GitLabHost(name, uri, groups);
+            return new GitLabHost(name, uri, useSsh, groups);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabHost.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabHost.java
index 50da448c0..00d6c5239 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabHost.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabHost.java
@@ -26,20 +26,19 @@
 import org.openjdk.skara.host.*;
 import org.openjdk.skara.json.*;
 import org.openjdk.skara.network.*;
-import org.openjdk.skara.vcs.*;
+import org.openjdk.skara.vcs.Hash;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.*;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
-import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.*;
-import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
-import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 public class GitLabHost implements Forge {
     private final String name;
     private final URI uri;
+    private final boolean useSsh;
     private final Credential pat;
     private final RestRequest request;
     private final Logger log = Logger.getLogger("org.openjdk.skara.forge.gitlab");
@@ -47,9 +46,10 @@ public class GitLabHost implements Forge {
 
     private HostUser cachedCurrentUser = null;
 
-    GitLabHost(String name, URI uri, Credential pat, Set<String> groups) {
+    GitLabHost(String name, URI uri, boolean useSsh, Credential pat, Set<String> groups) {
         this.name = name;
         this.uri = uri;
+        this.useSsh = useSsh;
         this.pat = pat;
         this.groups = groups;
 
@@ -59,9 +59,10 @@ public class GitLabHost implements Forge {
         request = new RestRequest(baseApi, pat.username(), () -> Arrays.asList("Private-Token", pat.password()));
     }
 
-    GitLabHost(String name, URI uri, Set<String> groups) {
+    GitLabHost(String name, URI uri, boolean useSsh, Set<String> groups) {
         this.name = name;
         this.uri = uri;
+        this.useSsh = useSsh;
         this.pat = null;
         this.groups = groups;
 
@@ -75,6 +76,10 @@ public URI getUri() {
         return uri;
     }
 
+    boolean useSsh() {
+        return useSsh;
+    }
+
     Optional<Credential> getPat() {
         return Optional.ofNullable(pat);
     }
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java
index 36d263e9b..fba8f2182 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@
  */
 package org.openjdk.skara.forge.gitlab;
 
-import org.openjdk.skara.host.HostUser;
 import org.openjdk.skara.forge.*;
+import org.openjdk.skara.host.HostUser;
 import org.openjdk.skara.json.*;
 import org.openjdk.skara.network.*;
 import org.openjdk.skara.vcs.*;
@@ -34,10 +34,9 @@
 import java.time.*;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.*;
-import java.util.function.Supplier;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
-import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 
 public class GitLabRepository implements HostedRepository {
     private final GitLabHost gitLabHost;
@@ -173,11 +172,15 @@ public String name() {
 
     @Override
     public URI url() {
-        var builder = URIBuilder
-                .base(gitLabHost.getUri())
-                .setPath("/" + projectName + ".git");
-        gitLabHost.getPat().ifPresent(pat -> builder.setAuthentication(pat.username() + ":" + pat.password()));
-        return builder.build();
+        if (gitLabHost.useSsh()) {
+            return URI.create("ssh://git@" + gitLabHost.getPat().orElseThrow().username() + "." + gitLabHost.getUri().getHost() + ":" + projectName + ".git");
+        } else {
+            var builder = URIBuilder
+                    .base(gitLabHost.getUri())
+                    .setPath("/" + projectName + ".git");
+            gitLabHost.getPat().ifPresent(pat -> builder.setAuthentication(pat.username() + ":" + pat.password()));
+            return builder.build();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
index 85e719594..40f533871 100644
--- a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
+++ b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ public Hash fetch(URI uri, String refspec, boolean includeTags) throws IOExcepti
         } else {
             cmd.add("--no-tags");
         }
-        cmd.add(uri.toString());
+        cmd.add(decodeUri(uri));
         cmd.add(refspec);
         try (var p = capture(cmd)) {
             await(p);
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ public Hash fetch(URI uri, String refspec, boolean includeTags) throws IOExcepti
 
     @Override
     public void fetchAll(URI uri, boolean includeTags) throws IOException {
-        var cmd = new ArrayList<>(List.of("git", "fetch", "--recurse-submodules=on-demand", "--prune", uri.toString()));
+        var cmd = new ArrayList<>(List.of("git", "fetch", "--recurse-submodules=on-demand", "--prune", decodeUri(uri)));
         cmd.add("+refs/heads/*:refs/heads/*");
         if (includeTags) {
             cmd.add("+refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*");
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ public Repository init() throws IOException {
 
     @Override
     public void pushAll(URI uri) throws IOException {
-        try (var p = capture("git", "push", "--mirror", uri.toString())) {
+        try (var p = capture("git", "push", "--mirror", decodeUri(uri))) {
             await(p);
         }
     }
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ public void push(Hash hash, URI uri, String ref, boolean force) throws IOExcepti
         }
         refspec += hash.hex() + ":" + ref;
 
-        try (var p = capture("git", "push", uri.toString(), refspec)) {
+        try (var p = capture("git", "push", decodeUri(uri), refspec)) {
             await(p);
         }
     }
@@ -1344,6 +1344,14 @@ public Optional<String> upstreamFor(Branch b) throws IOException {
         }
     }
 
+    private static String decodeUri(URI from) {
+        if (from.getScheme().equals("ssh")) {
+            return from.toString().substring(6);
+        } else {
+            return from.toString();
+        }
+    }
+
     public static Repository clone(URI from, Path to, boolean isBare, Path seed) throws IOException {
         var cmd = new ArrayList<String>();
         cmd.addAll(List.of("git", "clone"));
@@ -1356,7 +1364,7 @@ public static Repository clone(URI from, Path to, boolean isBare, Path seed) thr
             cmd.add("--reference-if-able");
             cmd.add(seed.toString());
         }
-        cmd.addAll(List.of(from.toString(), to.toString()));
+        cmd.addAll(List.of(decodeUri(from), to.toString()));
         try (var p = capture(Path.of("").toAbsolutePath(), cmd)) {
             await(p);
         }
@@ -1365,7 +1373,7 @@ public static Repository clone(URI from, Path to, boolean isBare, Path seed) thr
 
     public static Repository mirror(URI from, Path to) throws IOException {
         var cwd = Path.of("").toAbsolutePath();
-        try (var p = capture(cwd, "git", "clone", "--mirror", from.toString(), to.toString())) {
+        try (var p = capture(cwd, "git", "clone", "--mirror", decodeUri(from), to.toString())) {
             await(p);
         }
         return new GitRepository(to);