Once you have your keys, add them to your GitHub account in order to accomplish two important things:

• Forking, pull requests, and contributions: You'll be able to create private forks and pull requests using your own repositories, which allows you to begin contributing to the projects in the container ecosystem. You'll need the SSH key and the aforementioned programs in order to interact with Git, which is the underlying technology that powers this collaboration. There's a similar setup for GitLab and Bitbucket, but GitHub is currently the most popular tool and happens to be where all of the CNCF projects reside.
• Digital chain of custody: You'll be able to sign your commits. In order to participate in many of the cutting-edge Kubernetes ecosystem projects, you'll need to digitally sign your commits such that they're able to be attributed back to you. Many of the technologies that we've touched on in these books are used to power large infrastructure at the world's most advanced companies, and it's important for OSS to establish a strong chain of custody for highly distributed code development. The fingerprint of SSL and your machine is an essential piece of authentication and authorization.