diff --git a/oci.compute.tf b/oci.compute.tf
index e69de29..b9b7918 100644
--- a/oci.compute.tf
+++ b/oci.compute.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+resource "tls_private_key" "ssh_key" {
+  count = var.compute_ssh_key == null ? 1 : 0
+
+  algorithm = var.created_ssh_key_algorithm
+}
diff --git a/oci.locals.tf b/oci.locals.tf
index 8bf9966..bd437fb 100644
--- a/oci.locals.tf
+++ b/oci.locals.tf
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ locals {
   }
   # vcn dns label must be only alphanumeric and max 15 chars
   vcn_dns_label   = substr(replace(join("", [var.prefix, "vcn"]), "/(?i)[^0-9a-z]/", ""), 0, 15)
+  compute_ssh_key = coalesce(var.compute_ssh_key, trimspace(tls_private_key.ssh_key[0].public_key_openssh))
 }
diff --git a/terraform.outputs.tf b/terraform.outputs.tf
index 373656a..5ab2ef1 100644
--- a/terraform.outputs.tf
+++ b/terraform.outputs.tf
@@ -71,3 +71,14 @@ output "vcn_ipv6_cidr_private_blocks" {
   description = "The IPv6 CIDR block for the VCN"
   value       = oci_core_vcn.vcn.ipv6private_cidr_blocks
 }
+
+output "ssh_key_public" {
+  description = "The public SSH key for the compute instances"
+  value       = local.compute_ssh_key
+}
+
+output "ssh_key_private" {
+  description = "The created SSH private key for the compute instances"
+  value       = try(tls_private_key.ssh_key[0].private_key_pem, null)
+  sensitive   = true
+}
diff --git a/terraform.variables.tf b/terraform.variables.tf
index 4d1fe21..01df8b0 100644
--- a/terraform.variables.tf
+++ b/terraform.variables.tf
@@ -60,3 +60,15 @@ variable "enable_ipv6" {
   type        = bool
   default     = true
 }
+
+variable "compute_ssh_key" {
+  description = "The public SSH key for the compute instances"
+  type        = string
+  default     = null
+}
+
+variable "created_ssh_key_algorithm" {
+  description = "The algorithm for the created SSH key"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "ED25519"
+}