diff --git a/docs/additional-configuration.adoc b/docs/additional-configuration.adoc
index 1968df6ff..c8b7f3c1f 100644
--- a/docs/additional-configuration.adoc
+++ b/docs/additional-configuration.adoc
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ Prerequisites:
 ** The steps below assume the following environment variables are set:
 *** `$SSH_KEY`: path on disk to private key for SSH keypair (e.g. `~/.ssh/id_ed25519`)
 *** `$SSH_PUB_KEY`: path on disk to public key for SSH keypair (e.g. `~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub`)
+*** `$PASSPHRASE`: ssh keypair passphrase (optional)
 *** `$NAMESPACE`: namespace where workspaces using the SSH keypair will be started.
 
 Process:
@@ -211,7 +212,8 @@ EOF
 kubectl create secret -n "$NAMESPACE" generic git-ssh-key \
   --from-file=dwo_ssh_key="$SSH_KEY" \
   --from-file=dwo_ssh_key.pub="$SSH_PUB_KEY" \
-  --from-file=ssh_config=/tmp/ssh_config
+  --from-file=ssh_config=/tmp/ssh_config \
+  --from-literal=passphrase="$PASSPHRASE"
 ----
 
 3. Annotate the secret to configure automatic mounting to DevWorkspaces
diff --git a/project-clone/Dockerfile b/project-clone/Dockerfile
index b5a5b28de..ae6af7d63 100644
--- a/project-clone/Dockerfile
+++ b/project-clone/Dockerfile
@@ -44,10 +44,14 @@ COPY --from=builder /project-clone/_output/bin/project-clone /usr/local/bin/proj
 
 ENV USER_UID=1001 \
     USER_NAME=project-clone \
-    HOME=/home/user
+    HOME=/home/user \
+    DISPLAY=":0" \
+    SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/local/bin/ssh-askpass.sh
 
 COPY build/bin /usr/local/bin
+COPY project-clone/ssh-askpass.sh /usr/local/bin
 RUN  /usr/local/bin/user_setup
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ssh-askpass.sh
 
 USER ${USER_UID}
 
diff --git a/project-clone/ssh-askpass.sh b/project-clone/ssh-askpass.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..9459092ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/project-clone/ssh-askpass.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+PASSPHRASE_FILE_PATH="/etc/ssh/passphrase"
+if [ ! -f $PASSPHRASE_FILE_PATH ]; then
+    echo "Error: passphrase file is missing in the '/etc/ssh/' directory" 1>&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+cat $PASSPHRASE_FILE_PATH