Authenticating to the REST API

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Many REST API endpoints require authentication or return additional information if you are authenticated. Additionally, you can make more requests per hour when you are authenticated.

To authenticate your request, you will need to provide an authentication token with the required scopes or permissions. There a few different ways to get a token: You can create a personal access token, generate a token with a App, or use the built-in _TOKEN in a Actions workflow.

After creating a token, you can authenticate your request by sending the token in the Authorization header of your request. For example, in the following request, replace YOUR-TOKEN with a reference to your token:

curl --request GET \
--url "https://api..com/octocat" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR-TOKEN" \
--header "X--Api-Version: 2022-11-28"

Note

In most cases, you can use Authorization: Bearer or Authorization: token to pass a token. However, if you are passing a JSON web token (JWT), you must use Authorization: Bearer.

If you try to use a REST API endpoint without a token or with a token that has insufficient permissions, you will receive a 404 Not Found or 403 Forbidden response. Authenticating with invalid credentials will initially return a 401 Unauthorized response.

After detecting several requests with invalid credentials within a short period, the API will temporarily reject all authentication attempts for that user (including ones with valid credentials) with a 403 Forbidden response. For more information, see Rate limits for the REST API.

If you want to use the REST API for personal use, you can create a personal access token. If possible, recommends that you use a fine-grained personal access token instead of a personal access token (classic). For more information about creating a personal access token, see Managing your personal access tokens.

If you are using a fine-grained personal access token, your fine-grained personal access token requires specific permissions in order to access each REST API endpoint. The REST API reference document for each endpoint states whether the endpoint works with fine-grained personal access tokens and states what permissions are required in order for the token to use the endpoint. Some endpoints may require multiple permissions, and some endpoints may require one of multiple permissions. For an overview of which REST API endpoints a fine-grained personal access token can access with each permission, see Permissions required for fine-grained personal access tokens.

If you are using a personal access token (classic), it requires specific scopes in order to access each REST API endpoint. For general guidance about what scopes to choose, see Scopes for OAuth apps.

If you use a personal access token (classic) to access an organization that enforces SAML single sign-on (SSO) for authentication, you will need to authorize your token after creation. Fine-grained personal access tokens are authorized during token creation, before access to the organization is granted. For more information, see Authorizing a personal access token for use with SAML single sign-on.

If you do not authorize your personal access token (classic) for SAML SSO before you try to use it to access a single organization that enforces SAML SSO, you may receive a 404 Not Found or a 403 Forbidden error. If you receive a 403 Forbidden error, the X--SSO header will include a URL that you can follow to authorize your token. The URL expires after one hour.

If you do not authorize your personal access token (classic) for SAML SSO before you try to use it to access multiple organizations, the API will not return results from the organizations that require SAML SSO and the X--SSO header will indicate the ID of the organizations that require SAML SSO authorization of your personal access token (classic). For example: X--SSO: partial-results; organizations=21955855,20582480.

If you want to use the API for an organization or on behalf of another user, recommends that you use a App. For more information, see About authentication with a App.

The REST API reference documentation for each endpoint states whether the endpoint works with Apps and states what permissions are required in order for the app to use the endpoint. Some endpoints may require multiple permissions, and some endpoints may require one of multiple permissions. For an overview of which REST API endpoints a App can access with each permission, see Permissions required for Apps.

You can also create an OAuth token with an OAuth app to access the REST API. However, recommends that you use a App instead. Apps allow more control over the access and permission that the app has.

Access tokens created by apps are automatically authorized for SAML SSO.

Some REST API endpoints for Apps and OAuth apps require you to use basic authentication to access the endpoint. You will use the app's client ID as the username and the app's client secret as the password.

For example:

curl --request POST \
--url "https://api..com/applications/YOUR_CLIENT_ID/token" \
--user "YOUR_CLIENT_ID:YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" \
--header "Accept: application/vnd.+json" \
--header "X--Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
--data '{
  "access_token": "ACCESS_TOKEN_TO_CHECK"
}'

The client ID and client secret are associated with the app, not with the owner of the app or a user who authorized the app. They are used to perform operations on behalf of the app, such as creating access tokens.

If you are the owner of a App or OAuth app, or if you are an app manager for a App, you can find the client ID and generate a client secret on the settings page for your app. To navigate to your app's settings page:

  1. In the upper-right corner of any page on , click your profile photo.
  2. Navigate to your account settings.
    • For an app owned by a personal account, click Settings.
    • For an app owned by an organization:
      1. Click Your organizations.
      2. To the right of the organization, click Settings.
  3. In the left sidebar, click Developer settings.
  4. In the left sidebar, click Apps or OAuth apps.
  5. For Apps, to the right of the App you want to access, click Edit. For OAuth apps, click the app that you want to access.
  6. Next to Client ID, you will see the client ID for your app.
  7. Next to Client secrets, click Generate a new client secret to generate a client secret for your app.

If you want to use the API in a Actions workflow, recommends that you authenticate with the built-in _TOKEN instead of creating a token. You can grant permissions to the _TOKEN with the permissions key. For more information, see Automatic token authentication.

If this is not possible, you can store your token as a secret and use the name of your secret in your Actions workflow. For more information about secrets, see Using secrets in Actions.

To make an authenticated request to the API in a Actions workflow using CLI, you can store the value of _TOKEN as an environment variable, and use the run keyword to execute the CLI api subcommand. For more information about the run keyword, see Workflow syntax for Actions.

In the following example workflow, replace PATH with the path of the endpoint. For more information about the path, see Getting started with the REST API.

jobs:
  use_api:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions: {}
    steps:
      - env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets._TOKEN }}
        run: |
          gh api /PATH

To make an authenticated request to the API in a Actions workflow using curl, you can store the value of _TOKEN as an environment variable, and use the run keyword to execute a curl request to the API. For more information about the run keyword, see Workflow syntax for Actions.

In the following example workflow, replace PATH with the path of the endpoint. For more information about the path, see Getting started with the REST API.

YAML
jobs:
  use_api:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions: {}
    steps:
      - env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets._TOKEN }}
        run: |
          curl --request GET \
          --url "https://api..com/PATH" \
          --header "Authorization: Bearer $GH_TOKEN"

For an example of how to authenticate in a Actions workflow using JavaScript, see Scripting with the REST API and JavaScript.

Authentication with username and password is not supported. If you try to authenticate with user name and password, you will receive a 4xx error.