@octokit/auth-token

What is @octokit/auth-token?

The @octokit/auth-token package is designed to simplify the process of authenticating GitHub API requests. It provides a straightforward way to create an authentication token that can be used with Octokit clients or any other HTTP client to interact with the GitHub API securely.

What are @octokit/auth-token's main functionalities?

Creating an authentication token

This feature allows you to create an authentication token using a personal access token. The created auth object can then be used to authenticate GitHub API requests.

const { createTokenAuth } = require('@octokit/auth-token');
const auth = createTokenAuth('personal-access-token123');
auth().then((authentication) => {
  console.log(authentication);
});

Other packages similar to @octokit/auth-token

@octokit/auth-app

Similar to @octokit/auth-token, @octokit/auth-app focuses on authenticating GitHub Apps instead of personal access tokens. It provides more complex authentication mechanisms required for GitHub Apps, including handling JWT and installation access tokens.

@octokit/auth-basic

This package offers basic authentication for GitHub using a username and password combination. It's simpler and less secure compared to @octokit/auth-token, which uses tokens for authentication. @octokit/auth-basic is primarily used for legacy projects or in scenarios where token-based authentication cannot be used.

@octokit/auth-oauth-app

The @octokit/auth-oauth-app package is designed for OAuth-based authentication for GitHub applications. It differs from @octokit/auth-token by providing a complete OAuth flow, including redirecting users to GitHub for authentication and handling the OAuth tokens, making it suitable for web applications that need to authenticate users via GitHub.

README

auth-token.js

Octokit library implementing the token authentication strategy for browsers and Node.js

@octokit/auth-token is the simplest of GitHub’s authentication strategies.

A string is passed to the createTokenAuth function which returns the async auth function.

The auth function validates the passed token and resolves with the correct authorization header.

Usage

import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token";
import { request } from "@octokit/request";

(async () => {
  const auth = createTokenAuth("1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678");
  const authentication = await auth();
  // {
  //   type: 'token',
  //   token: '1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678',
  //   tokenType: 'oauth',
  //   headers: {
  //     authorization: 'token 1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678'
  //   }
  // }

  // `authentication.headers` can be directly passed to a request
  const result = await request("GET /orgs/:org/repos", {
    headers: authentication.headers,
    org: "octokit",
    type: "private"
  });
})();

createTokenAuth(token)

The createTokenAuth method accepts a single argument of type string, which is the token. The passed token can be one of the following:

• Personal access token
• OAuth access token
• Installation access token (GitHub App Installation)
• GITHUB_TOKEN provided to GitHub Actions

Examples

// Personal/OAuth access token
createTokenAuth("1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678");

// Installation access token or GitHub Action token
createTokenAuth("v1.d3d433526f780fbcc3129004e2731b3904ad0b86");

It returns the asynchronous auth() method.

auth()

The auth() method has no options. It returns the authentication object.

Authentication object

name	type	description
type	string	"token"
token	string	The provided token.
tokenType	string	"oauth" for personal access tokens and OAuth tokens, or "installation" for installation access tokens
headers	object	{ authorization } - value for the "Authorization" header.
query	object	{} - not used

Find more information

createTokenAuth does not send any requests, it only transforms the provided token string into an authentication object.

Here is a list of things you can do to retrieve further information

Find out what scopes are enabled for oauth tokens

Note that this does not work for installations. There is no way to retrieve permissions based on an installation access tokens.

import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token";
import { request } from "@octokit/request";

const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";

(async () => {
  const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
  const authentication = await auth();

  const response = await request("HEAD /", {
    headers: authentication.headers
  });
  const scopes = response.headers["x-oauth-scopes"].split(/,\s+/);

  if (scopes.length) {
    console.log(
      `"${TOKEN}" has ${scopes.length} scopes enabled: ${scopes.join(", ")}`
    );
  } else {
    console.log(`"${TOKEN}" has no scopes enabled`);
  }
})();

Find out if token is a personal access token or if it belongs to an OAuth app

import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token";
import { request } from "@octokit/request";

const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";

(async () => {
  const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
  const authentication = await auth();

  const response = await request("HEAD /", {
    headers: authentication.headers
  });
  const clientId = response.headers["x-oauth-client-id"];

  if (clientId) {
    console.log(
      `"${token}" is an OAuth token, its app’s client_id is ${clientId}.`
    );
  } else {
    console.log(`"${token}" is a personal access token`);
  }
})();

Find out what permissions are enabled for a repository

Note that the permissions key is not set when authenticated using an installation access token.

import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token";
import { request } from "@octokit/request";

const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";

(async () => {
  const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
  const authentication = await auth();

  const response = await request("GET /repos/:owner/:repo", {
    owner: 'octocat',
    repo: 'hello-world'
    headers: authentication.headers
  });

  console.log(response.data.permissions)
  // {
  //   admin: true,
  //   push: true,
  //   pull: true
  // }
})();

Use token for git operations

Both OAuth and installation access tokens can be used for git operations. However when using with an installation, the token must be prefixed with x-access-token.

import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token";
import { request } from "execa";

const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";

(async () => {
  const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
  const { token, tokenType } = await auth();
  const tokenWithPrefix =
    tokenType === "installation" ? `x-access-token:${token}` : token;

  const repositoryUrl = `https://${tokenWithPrefix}@github.com/octocat/hello-world.git`;

  const { stdout } = await execa("git", ["push", repositoryUrl]);
  console.log(stdout);
})();

License

MIT