git-crypt fails after cloning the repo

[krish7919]

I have recently set up a repo with git-crypt. When cloning this repo from scratch in a new directory, I observe the following:

...
...
Receiving objects: 100% (17680/17680), 130.13 MiB | 5.16 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (10261/10261), done.
git-crypt: Error: Unable to open key file - have you unlocked/initialized this repository yet?
error: external filter '"git-crypt" smudge --key-name=dev' failed 1
error: external filter '"git-crypt" smudge --key-name=dev' failed
fatal: path/to/file: smudge filter git-crypt-dev failed
warning: Clone succeeded, but checkout failed.
You can inspect what was checked out with 'git status'
and retry the checkout with 'git checkout -f HEAD'

A further git checkout -f HEAD fails with: git-crypt: Error: Unable to open key file - have you unlocked/initialized this repository yet?

I surmise that git-crypt unlock needs a file with the key, however, how does one provide this information during a git clone? Is there a workaround for this?

[krish7919]

Any suggestions would be welcome.