# auth-token.js > GitHub API token authentication for browsers and Node.js [![@latest](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@octokit/auth-token.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@octokit/auth-token) [![Build Status](https://github.com/octokit/auth-token.js/workflows/Test/badge.svg)](https://github.com/octokit/auth-token.js/actions?query=workflow%3ATest) `@octokit/auth-token` is the simplest of [GitHub’s authentication strategies](https://github.com/octokit/auth.js). It is useful if you want to support multiple authentication strategies, as it’s API is compatible with its sibling packages for [basic](https://github.com/octokit/auth-basic.js), [GitHub App](https://github.com/octokit/auth-app.js) and [OAuth app](https://github.com/octokit/auth.js) authentication. - [Usage](#usage) - [`createTokenAuth(token) options`](#createtokenauthtoken-options) - [`auth()`](#auth) - [Authentication object](#authentication-object) - [`auth.hook(request, route, options)` or `auth.hook(request, options)`](#authhookrequest-route-options-or-authhookrequest-options) - [Find more information](#find-more-information) - [Find out what scopes are enabled for oauth tokens](#find-out-what-scopes-are-enabled-for-oauth-tokens) - [Find out if token is a personal access token or if it belongs to an OAuth app](#find-out-if-token-is-a-personal-access-token-or-if-it-belongs-to-an-oauth-app) - [Find out what permissions are enabled for a repository](#find-out-what-permissions-are-enabled-for-a-repository) - [Use token for git operations](#use-token-for-git-operations) - [License](#license) ## Usage
Browsers Load `@octokit/auth-token` directly from [cdn.skypack.dev](https://cdn.skypack.dev) ```html ```
Node Install with npm install @octokit/auth-token ```js const { createTokenAuth } = require("@octokit/auth-token"); // or: import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token"; ```
```js const auth = createTokenAuth("ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000"); const authentication = await auth(); // { // type: 'token', // token: 'ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000', // tokenType: 'oauth' // } ``` ## `createTokenAuth(token) options` 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](https://help.github.com/en/articles/creating-a-personal-access-token-for-the-command-line) - [OAuth access token](https://developer.github.com/apps/building-oauth-apps/authorizing-oauth-apps/) - [GITHUB_TOKEN provided to GitHub Actions](https://developer.github.com/actions/creating-github-actions/accessing-the-runtime-environment/#environment-variables) - Installation access token ([server-to-server](https://developer.github.com/apps/building-github-apps/authenticating-with-github-apps/#authenticating-as-an-installation)) - User authentication for installation ([user-to-server](https://docs.github.com/en/developers/apps/building-github-apps/identifying-and-authorizing-users-for-github-apps)) Examples ```js // Personal access token or OAuth access token createTokenAuth("ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000"); // { // type: 'token', // token: 'ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000', // tokenType: 'oauth' // } // Installation access token or GitHub Action token createTokenAuth("ghs_InstallallationOrActionToken00000000"); // { // type: 'token', // token: 'ghs_InstallallationOrActionToken00000000', // tokenType: 'installation' // } // Installation access token or GitHub Action token createTokenAuth("ghu_InstallationUserToServer000000000000"); // { // type: 'token', // token: 'ghu_InstallationUserToServer000000000000', // tokenType: 'user-to-server' // } ``` ## `auth()` The `auth()` method has no options. It returns a promise which resolves with the the authentication object. ## Authentication object
name type description
type string "token"
token string The provided token.
tokenType string Can be either "oauth" for personal access tokens and OAuth tokens, "installation" for installation access tokens (includes GITHUB_TOKEN provided to GitHub Actions), "app" for a GitHub App JSON Web Token, or "user-to-server" for a user authentication token through an app installation.
## `auth.hook(request, route, options)` or `auth.hook(request, options)` `auth.hook()` hooks directly into the request life cycle. It authenticates the request using the provided token. The `request` option is an instance of [`@octokit/request`](https://github.com/octokit/request.js#readme). The `route`/`options` parameters are the same as for the [`request()` method](https://github.com/octokit/request.js#request). `auth.hook()` can be called directly to send an authenticated request ```js const { data: authorizations } = await auth.hook( request, "GET /authorizations" ); ``` Or it can be passed as option to [`request()`](https://github.com/octokit/request.js#request). ```js const requestWithAuth = request.defaults({ request: { hook: auth.hook, }, }); const { data: authorizations } = await requestWithAuth("GET /authorizations"); ``` ## Find more information `auth()` 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. ```js const TOKEN = "ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000"; const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN); const authentication = await auth(); const response = await request("HEAD /"); 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 ```js const TOKEN = "ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000"; const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN); const authentication = await auth(); const response = await request("HEAD /"); 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. ```js const TOKEN = "ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000"; const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN); const authentication = await auth(); const response = await request("GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}", { owner: "octocat", repo: "hello-world", }); 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`](https://developer.github.com/apps/building-github-apps/authenticating-with-github-apps/#http-based-git-access-by-an-installation). This example is using the [`execa`](https://github.com/sindresorhus/execa) package to run a `git push` command. ```js const TOKEN = "ghp_PersonalAccessToken01245678900000000"; 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](LICENSE)