My example was only to point out that there exist self-hostable passkey providers.
When I use passkeys on a single device, the "provider" is the OS, same as with my SSH keys.
Yes. For example, when upgrading or reinstalling a system
> If you need or wanted to (you don't) you'd need some way to sync them across multiple devices securely.
`scp -r`
> the "provider" is the OS, same as with my SSH keys.
And you have full access to ~/.ssh and you can move copy update rename delete them however you like. Without a "Credential Exchange Protocol (CXP) and Credential Exchange Format (CXF)" to move between blackboxes of third-party providers
I think this comes down to me never having wanted to do a copy or move (I create and maintain new keys when I create new devices) which is exactly the same experience i get with a passkey (and is, generally a more secure experience since my keys cannot be exfiltrated since copying them is implicitly verboten).
Assuming you mean client devices, yes, depending on my personal relationship/control of the device. (For servers, the answer is "very yes".)
For example, my personal laptop and desktop may have the same private key, and I will backup/restore that same key onto either of them if they are reinstalled or replaced with new hardware.
However my work laptop gets its own, so that I can more-easily limit what it can access or cancel it in the future.
Yes.
> you'd need some way to sync them across multiple devices securely.
I take out my physical keychain and plug in my yubikey. Then, after typing in the password to my yubikey, I can use ssh and pgp until I unplug my yubikey. It is a hell of a lot more secure than storing your ssh keys on disk regardless of whether or not you use a unique key per device. I could lock someone in a room with my computer, my yubikey, and my password, and they still wouldn't be able to copy my ssh key.
How do I ensure I can access my accounts if my phone-containing-passkeys is lost/stolen/dies without backups?
Whether that's having multiple separate keys/devices registered with your accounts or a single key stored in a password manager, you need to have a fallback plan.
Why should we even need a third-party provider? Imagine needing a third-party "provider" for your own ssh keys.