GitHub Clone with OAuth Access Token

Question

Inside a script I am trying to clone a GitHub repository with an OAuth token.

According to this tutorial:

https://github.com/blog/1270-easier-builds-and-deployments-using-git-over-https-and-oauth

I should be able to build a command for it like this:

git clone https://<token>@github.com/owner/repo.git

If I try this manually with a proper access token, it still asks for my password.

If I try it on the commandline I am simply getting a repository not found error.

The article is from 2012 and I cannot find any API documentation for this. So I am wondering if this still works.

What is the difference between "If I try this manually" and "If I try it on the commandline"? — Sebastian Mach, Jun 28 '19 at 11:12
Please correct the URI-token syntax, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/29570677/287948 — Peter Krauss, Jan 06 '21 at 22:47
@PeterKrauss Linking to an unrelated thread seems a bit uncalled for, especially if it's a "closed" topic — deiga, Mar 11 '21 at 14:50

score 155 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 23 '21 at 12:53

155

Just use the HTTPS address to clone with the key as the user, so:

git clone https://oauth-key-goes-here@github.com/username/repo.git

edited Sep 23 '21 at 12:53

Community

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answered Feb 11 '21 at 14:48

Andris

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Hate to be that guy, but, This was really helpful, thank you very much . I am working on a Matlab container that needs a script to run but that script changes a lot and I don't want to keep rebuilding the containers each time, with this I can just clone what I need to run there instead of having a fixed script. – Gilberto Treviño Mar 09 '21 at 17:00
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You can also use github Personal Access Token with this command in place of OAuth Key. – Aung Htet Jan 26 '22 at 02:26

Stephan-v · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-11T07:28:38.397

102

I turned out to be a scope issue. I of course needed full repo scope since I was trying to clone a private repository.

It's a shame Github does not have some clearer error messages for these kind of things, but security wise I understand why.

For anyone trying to figure out what is wrong when trying out something like this, I would suggest to create a personal access token with full access to everything:

settings > developer settings > personal access tokens > generate new token

This way you can easily test if it is a scope issue by comparing your token with a personal access token that has access rights for everything.

Thanks for anyone who still took the time to read this.

edited Jul 11 '17 at 07:28

answered Feb 11 '17 at 11:46

Stephan-v

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Mind that if you simply try to access the repo page through a browser you'll still face a 404-not found page. But cloning worked fine regardless in my case. – Herick May 15 '18 at 20:35
I provided a scope of `user repo` to the authorization request, and when requesting an access token it always returns with `scope=` (empty scope). Why is that? – Era May 06 '20 at 21:46
It may seem that there is no way to avoid write access using a Github security token, which is kind of a security limitation for scripts and other integrations where just cloning a private repo is required :( – matanster Jan 29 '22 at 17:53

Amit Levy · Answer 3 · 2021-04-28T13:22:00.317

51

Just clone the repository with HTTP like so:

git clone https://github.com/myuser/myrepo.git

When prompted for Username, fill your username.

When prompted for Password, fill the token instead.

edited Apr 28 '21 at 13:22

answered Aug 14 '20 at 13:41

Amit Levy

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It is not the answer, the problem is about **use the token**, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/29570677/287948 – Peter Krauss Jan 06 '21 at 22:47
you can use the token in the URL as https://oauth-key-goes-here@github.com/username/repo.git – Andris Feb 11 '21 at 14:48
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well....worked for github too... Guess it is supposed to be used.. like more of a appPassword with every URL Thanks Anyway – ronit Apr 28 '21 at 10:34
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Worth to say you can use your personal token in place of password for *any* git command line action, not only *clone* – augusto Jun 30 '21 at 09:55
found a error => remote : repository not found – satendra singh Aug 29 '21 at 09:17

t.ios · Answer 4 · 2019-06-05T10:23:30.223

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Do whatever works for you from these two choices

In your terminal

$ git clone your_repo_url Username:your_token Password:

... there is no password

In your git client app

i.e. Sourcetree, GitKraken, and the GitHub client.

Enter your repo_url (obvsiously without the '$ git clone part')

Username:your_token Password:

... there is no password

OR i.e. in Sourcetree, open preferences and then go to advanced, enter the hostname (i.e. www.x.com) and userName (i.e. your_token)

edited Jun 05 '19 at 10:23

answered Feb 04 '19 at 10:52

t.ios

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Perfect, it works like a charm. – Milton Jacomini Neto Sep 22 '21 at 16:15
Using token as username worked for me on windows – John Dec 07 '21 at 16:13
I had to use my real username as username and token as a password, not username as of now, maybe I had initially some redundant space in it, or it takes a little while, while the token activation takes places – FantomX1 Jan 26 '22 at 11:56

hobbydev · Answer 5 · 2021-09-14T18:10:10.067

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Please try this.

git clone `https://oauth2:TOKEN@github.com/username/repo.git`

For example, git clone https://oauth2:ghp_...Gnm61dm4rh@github.com/gituser/testrepo.git

edited Sep 14 '21 at 18:10

answered Sep 06 '21 at 13:33

hobbydev

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it's working. please check the url carefully. @github.com/gituser/testrepo.git – hobbydev Sep 14 '21 at 18:09
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This is way better than manually writing the username and password! I can save a github access token variable and user a script with `git clone https://oauth:$GITHUB_TOKEN@github.com/user/repo.git` or just add the token itself to a script. Underrated answer here. – JakeAve Oct 09 '21 at 02:27
I get ` remote: Invalid username or password` when using an organization repo :( `git clone https://oauth2:$GITHUB_TOKEN@github.com/MyOrg/repo.git` – A Kingscote Jan 12 '22 at 08:56
@AKingscote, please check if your key is correct and not expired. – hobbydev Jan 17 '22 at 09:37

score 18 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 22 '21 at 12:40

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go to https://github.com/settings/tokens and generate a new token, remember to enable access to the repo, after that, you can do the following to clone the repo.

git clone https://<token>@github.com/owner/repo.git

Note: owner is your username if it's your repository else keep username of repository owner(one with all the rights of repo).

edited Sep 22 '21 at 12:40

TUSHAR BAPECHA

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answered May 31 '21 at 04:45

sfsf9797

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remote : repository not found – satendra singh Aug 29 '21 at 09:16
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this works for me. i had a dialog for it and after closing it the only way was putting the token in the url. thanks – Laura Liparulo Dec 14 '21 at 13:59

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 20 '19 at 13:23

In .net core you can do in this way when dealing with Azure DevOps Repo:

 public void CloneRepository()
        {
            var _gitURL = "URLofGitRemoteRepository";
            var _userName = "PersonalAccessToken";
            var _pswd = ""; //Keep it blank

            var co = new CloneOptions();
            co.CredentialsProvider = (_url, _user, _cred) => new UsernamePasswordCredentials { Username = _userName, Password = _pswd };

            Repository.Clone(_gitURL, filePath, co);
        }

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 10 '21 at 23:06

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For me none of the answers above worked. It turns out I had set an expiration of one month on my token so I had to recreate the token using the instructions here: https://www.shanebart.com/clone-repo-using-token/

answered Dec 10 '21 at 23:06

Ayudh

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GitHub Clone with OAuth Access Token

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