python-digitalocean accepts SSH keys in multiple formats when creating a new Droplet. One important thing to remember is that even if you are only adding one key, the attribute needs to be in list form.

Here’s a quick example:

import os
import digitalocean

token = os.getenv('DO_TOKEN')
client = digitalocean.Manager(token=token)

keys = client.get_all_sshkeys()

droplet = digitalocean.Droplet(name='ssh-key-example-01',
                                                   region='nyc3',
                                                   size='s-1vcpu-1gb',
                                                   image='ubuntu-18-04-x64',
                                                   ssh_keys=[keys[0],
                                                   3939600,
                                                   'b6:2e:fa:ea:96:42:14:1b:62:e2:76:4b:6f:60:1a:e6'],
                                                   token=token)

This example highlights the three forms that are accepted:

• keys[0] is an SSHKey object that was retrieved using client.get_all_sshkeys()
• 3939600 is the ID of an SSH key on my DigitalOcean account as an integer
• b6:2e:fa:ea:96:42:14:1b:62:e2:76:4b:6f:60:1a:e6 is the fingerprint of an SSH key on my DigitalOcean account

If you’d like to add all of the keys on you account to a Droplet, the easiest way would be:

keys = client.get_all_sshkeys()

droplet = digitalocean.Droplet(name='ssh-key-example-01',
                                                   region='nyc3',
                                                   size='s-1vcpu-1gb',
                                                   image='ubuntu-18-04-x64',
                                                   ssh_keys=keys,
                                                   token=token)

This works since client.get_all_sshkeys() already returns them in a list.

I’ve already tried the second approach presented and doesn’t work.

[nav] In [80]: try:
          ...:     keys = manager.get_all_sshkeys()
          ...:     droplet = digitalocean.Droplet(token='XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX', name='SRV00', region='ams3', image='ubuntu-16-04-x32', ssh_keys=keys , size_slug='512mb', backups=False)
          ...:     droplet.create()
          ...: except Exception as e:
          ...:     print('Err: {}'.format(e))

Then:

[nav] In [81]: for d in manager.get_all_droplets():
          ...:     print('Droplet IP: {}, SSH KEYS: {} ...'.format(d.ip_address, d.ssh_keys ))

Result:

Droplet IP: AA.BB.CC.DD, SSH KEYS: [] …

I do have a key on DO:

[ins] In [83]: manager.get_all_sshkeys()
Out[83]: [<SSHKey: 24341650 srv00>]

Did something change to the API or … ?