diff --git a/clab/export.go b/clab/export.go
index 371ca186c..50cd1c48c 100644
--- a/clab/export.go
+++ b/clab/export.go
@@ -17,9 +17,10 @@ import (
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/srl-labs/containerlab/types"
+	"github.com/srl-labs/containerlab/utils"
 )
 
-// GenerateExports generates various export files and writes it to a lab location.
+// GenerateExports generates various export files and writes it to a file in the lab directory.
 func (c *CLab) GenerateExports(ctx context.Context, f io.Writer, p string) error {
 	err := c.exportTopologyDataWithTemplate(ctx, f, p)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -36,9 +37,11 @@ func (c *CLab) GenerateExports(ctx context.Context, f io.Writer, p string) error
 // TopologyExport holds a combination of CLab structure and map of NodeConfig types,
 // which expands Node definitions with dynamically created values.
 type TopologyExport struct {
-	Name        string                       `json:"name"`
-	Type        string                       `json:"type"`
-	Clab        *CLab                        `json:"clab,omitempty"`
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+	Type string `json:"type"`
+	Clab *CLab  `json:"clab,omitempty"`
+	// SSHPubKeys is a list of string representations of SSH public keys.
+	SSHPubKeys  []string                     `json:"SSHPubKeys,omitempty"`
 	NodeConfigs map[string]*types.NodeConfig `json:"nodeconfigs,omitempty"`
 }
 
@@ -87,6 +90,7 @@ func (c *CLab) exportTopologyDataWithTemplate(_ context.Context, w io.Writer, p
 		Name:        c.Config.Name,
 		Type:        "clab",
 		Clab:        c,
+		SSHPubKeys:  utils.MarshalSSHPubKeys(c.SSHPubKeys),
 		NodeConfigs: make(map[string]*types.NodeConfig),
 	}
 
diff --git a/clab/export_templates/auto.tmpl b/clab/export_templates/auto.tmpl
index 497f26a7f..a95e0935b 100644
--- a/clab/export_templates/auto.tmpl
+++ b/clab/export_templates/auto.tmpl
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
       "mgmt": {{ ToJSONPretty .Clab.Config.Mgmt "      " "  "}}
     }
   },
+  "ssh-pub-keys": {{ ToJSON .SSHPubKeys }},
   "nodes": { {{- $i:=0 }}{{range $n, $c := .NodeConfigs}}{{if $i}},{{end}}
     "{{$n}}": {
       "index": "{{$c.Index}}",
diff --git a/clab/export_templates/full.tmpl b/clab/export_templates/full.tmpl
index 3699ec315..2e03a84a4 100644
--- a/clab/export_templates/full.tmpl
+++ b/clab/export_templates/full.tmpl
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   "name": "{{ .Name }}",
   "type": "{{ .Type }}",
   "clab": {{ ToJSONPretty .Clab "  " "  "}},
+  "ssh-pub-keys": {{ ToJSON .SSHPubKeys }},
   "nodes": { {{- $i:=0 }}{{range $n, $c := .NodeConfigs}}{{if $i}},{{end}}{{ $k := dict "tls-key" $c.TLSKey }}
     "{{$n}}":{{ $cj := $c | data.ToJSON | data.JSON }} {{ $dst := coll.Merge $cj $k }}{{ ToJSONPretty $dst "    " "  " }}{{$i = add $i 1}}{{end}}
   },
diff --git a/nodes/srl/sshkey.go b/nodes/srl/sshkey.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 1b3daf349..000000000
--- a/nodes/srl/sshkey.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-package srl
-
-import (
-	"bytes"
-	"strings"
-
-	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh"
-)
-
-// catenateKeys catenates the ssh public keys
-// and produces a string that can be used in the
-// cli config command to set the ssh public keys
-// for users.
-func catenateKeys(in []ssh.PublicKey) string {
-	var keys strings.Builder
-	// pre-allocate the string builder capacity
-	keys.Grow(len(in) * 100)
-	// iterate through keys
-	for i, k := range in {
-		// extract the keys in AuthorizedKeys format (e.g. "ssh-rsa <KEY>")
-		ks := bytes.TrimSpace(ssh.MarshalAuthorizedKey(k))
-		// add a separator, leading quote, the key string and trailing quote
-		if i > 0 {
-			keys.WriteByte(' ')
-		}
-		keys.WriteByte('"')
-		keys.Write(ks)
-		keys.WriteByte('"')
-	}
-	// return the string builders content as string
-	return keys.String()
-}
diff --git a/nodes/srl/sshkey_test.go b/nodes/srl/sshkey_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index c630c768d..000000000
--- a/nodes/srl/sshkey_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-package srl
-
-import (
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
-	"github.com/srl-labs/containerlab/utils"
-)
-
-func Test_srl_catenateKeys(t *testing.T) {
-	type fields struct {
-		keyFiles []string
-	}
-	tests := []struct {
-		name   string
-		fields fields
-		want   string
-	}{
-		{
-			name: "test1",
-			fields: fields{
-				keyFiles: []string{"test_data/keys"},
-			},
-			want: "\"ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCs4Qv1yrBk6ygt+o7J4sUcYv+WfDjdAyABDoinOt3PgSmCcVqqAP2qS8UtTnMNuy93Orp6+/R/7/R3O5xdY6I4YViK3WVlKTAUVm7vdeTKp9uq1tNeWgo7+J3baSbQ3INp85ScTfFvRzRCFkr/W97Wh6pTa7ysgkcPvc2/tXG2z36Mx7/TFBk3Q1LY3ByKLtGrC5JnVpMTrqrsCwcLEVHHEZ4z5R4FZED/lpz+wTNFnR/l9HA6yDkKYensHynx+guqYpYD6y4yEGY/LcUnwBg0zIlUhmOsvdmxWBz12Lp7EBiNjSwhnPfe+o3efLGGnjWUAa4TgO8Sa8PQP0pK/ZNd\" \"ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAILKdXYzPIq8kHRJtDrh21wMVI76AnuPk7HDLeDteKN74\"",
-		},
-	}
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			keys, err := utils.LoadSSHPubKeysFromFiles(tt.fields.keyFiles)
-			if err != nil {
-				t.Errorf("failed to load keys: %v", err)
-			}
-
-			n := &srl{
-				sshPubKeys: keys,
-			}
-
-			got := catenateKeys(n.sshPubKeys)
-
-			if d := cmp.Diff(got, tt.want); d != "" {
-				t.Errorf("srl.catenateKeys() = %s", d)
-			}
-		})
-	}
-}
diff --git a/nodes/srl/version.go b/nodes/srl/version.go
index ea4f87d7e..679d45e0e 100644
--- a/nodes/srl/version.go
+++ b/nodes/srl/version.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/srl-labs/containerlab/clab/exec"
+	"github.com/srl-labs/containerlab/utils"
 	"golang.org/x/mod/semver"
 )
 
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ func (n *srl) setVersionSpecificParams(tplData *srlTemplateData) {
 	// in srlinux >= v23.10+ linuxadmin and admin user ssh keys can only be configured via the cli
 	// so we add the keys to the template data for rendering.
 	if len(n.sshPubKeys) > 0 && (semver.Compare(v, "v23.10") >= 0 || n.swVersion.Major == "0") {
-		tplData.SSHPubKeys = catenateKeys(n.sshPubKeys)
+		tplData.SSHPubKeys = utils.MarshalAndCatenateSSHPubKeys(n.sshPubKeys)
 	}
 
 	// in srlinux >= v24.3+ we add ACL rules to enable http and telnet access
diff --git a/utils/ssh.go b/utils/ssh.go
index ed6399576..ae8ebb041 100644
--- a/utils/ssh.go
+++ b/utils/ssh.go
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 package utils
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"os/exec"
 	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"golang.org/x/crypto/ssh"
 )
 
 // GetSSHVersion returns the version of the ssh client
@@ -32,3 +35,34 @@ func parseSSHVersion(in string) string {
 
 	return match[1]
 }
+
+// MarshalSSHPubKeys marshales the ssh public keys
+// and a string slice that contains string representations of the keys.
+func MarshalSSHPubKeys(in []ssh.PublicKey) []string {
+	r := []string{}
+
+	for _, k := range in {
+		// extract the keys in AuthorizedKeys format (e.g. "ssh-rsa <KEY>")
+		ks := bytes.TrimSpace(ssh.MarshalAuthorizedKey(k))
+		r = append(r, string(ks))
+
+	}
+
+	return r
+}
+
+// MarshalAndCatenateSSHPubKeys catenates the ssh public keys
+// and produces a string that can be used in the
+// cli config command to set the ssh public keys
+// for users.
+// Each key value in the catenated string will be double quoted.
+func MarshalAndCatenateSSHPubKeys(in []ssh.PublicKey) string {
+	keysSlice := MarshalSSHPubKeys(in)
+	quotedKeys := make([]string, len(keysSlice))
+
+	for i, k := range keysSlice {
+		quotedKeys[i] = "\"" + k + "\""
+	}
+
+	return strings.Join(quotedKeys, " ")
+}
diff --git a/utils/ssh_test.go b/utils/ssh_test.go
index ed1d04b5f..b6a5aa0cf 100644
--- a/utils/ssh_test.go
+++ b/utils/ssh_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package utils
 
 import (
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
 )
 
 func TestParseSSHVersion(t *testing.T) {
@@ -36,3 +38,36 @@ func TestParseSSHVersion(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_MarshalAndCatenateSSHPubKeys(t *testing.T) {
+	type fields struct {
+		keyFiles []string
+	}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name   string
+		fields fields
+		want   string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "test1",
+			fields: fields{
+				keyFiles: []string{"test_data/keys"},
+			},
+			want: "\"ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCs4Qv1yrBk6ygt+o7J4sUcYv+WfDjdAyABDoinOt3PgSmCcVqqAP2qS8UtTnMNuy93Orp6+/R/7/R3O5xdY6I4YViK3WVlKTAUVm7vdeTKp9uq1tNeWgo7+J3baSbQ3INp85ScTfFvRzRCFkr/W97Wh6pTa7ysgkcPvc2/tXG2z36Mx7/TFBk3Q1LY3ByKLtGrC5JnVpMTrqrsCwcLEVHHEZ4z5R4FZED/lpz+wTNFnR/l9HA6yDkKYensHynx+guqYpYD6y4yEGY/LcUnwBg0zIlUhmOsvdmxWBz12Lp7EBiNjSwhnPfe+o3efLGGnjWUAa4TgO8Sa8PQP0pK/ZNd\" \"ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAILKdXYzPIq8kHRJtDrh21wMVI76AnuPk7HDLeDteKN74\"",
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			keys, err := LoadSSHPubKeysFromFiles(tt.fields.keyFiles)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("failed to load keys: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			got := MarshalAndCatenateSSHPubKeys(keys)
+
+			if d := cmp.Diff(got, tt.want); d != "" {
+				t.Errorf("MarshalAndCatenateSSHPubKeys() = %s", d)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/nodes/srl/test_data/keys b/utils/test_data/keys
similarity index 100%
rename from nodes/srl/test_data/keys
rename to utils/test_data/keys