Skip to main content

Github Token Setup

How to setup fine grained token for authentication?​

  1. Go github settings, developer settings, fine grained token.
  2. Generate token with permissions:
  • User perrmissions is not needed
  • Those are the base ones needed:

PERMISSIONS​

Permissions for the fine grained github token

Base PERMISSIONS​

Those are the base general permission you probably need to interact with your repo like push, commit, fetch etc.

  • WIP what are those permission exactly do?

  • Commit statuses: Read and Write

  • Contents: Read and Write

    • Commits, branches, downloads, releases and merges

  • Issues: Read and write

    • For able to make github issue etc. via github cli or other apps

  • Pages: Read and write

    • For github pages

  • Pull requests: Read and write

    • For able to make github PR etc. via github cli or other apps

  • Workflows: Read and write

    • [?] for able to make a configuration on workflow files like main.yml?

  • Metadata: Read-only (Already enabled because mandatory)

How to not get asked all the time for password for token?​

This happens sometimes when the cache broken on the linux or via some updates, or token expration or something bug unknown...

NOTE: Remember, use token for password instead of github password when you need to gave it to github cli setup

Setting up for gnome keyring (Recomended for security)​

This would save your token to your default keyring mostly named login and you would be prompted from your polkit if you setup a password for that keyring.

I recommend you to setup a password(for linux: make it same password with your account to open auto when you login) for your keyring because github tokens are basicly password which you need to treat them like your personal passwords.

  1. Setup credential helper to libsecret
git config --global credential.helper libsecret

# Check is setup worked:
git config --get credential.helper
# Output would be:
# libsecret
  1. When the first initialization for the github like commit, push...
username: <your_exact_github_username>
password: <token_start_with_github_pat_12345>

Plain text save token (Bad security but works)​

git config --global credential.helper store

If you already have that and nothing happens than configure via plain text on .git-credentials this file:

https://1123456:github_pat_1234567123456@github.com
  • 1123456 -> represent github email(mine is private, that's why start with number) starting numbers
  • github_pat_1234567123456 -> represent your token

Base github config example​

This is my ~/.gitconfig file

[user]
 name = Cyber-Syntax
 email = 115875369+Cyber-Syntax@users.noreply.github.com
[color]
 ui = auto
[credential]
 helper = libsecret
[init]
 defultBranch = main
 defaultBranch = main
[merge "ours"]
 driver = true
[safe]
 directory = /etc/nixos
[core]
 excludefile = /home/developer/Documents/.gitignore
  editor = nvim
 whitespace = fix,-indent-with-non-tab,trailing-space,cr-at-eol
[color "branch"]
 current = yellow bold
 local = green bold
  remote = cyan bold
[color "diff"]
 meta = yellow bold
 frag = magenta bold
 old = red bold
 new = green bold
  whitespace = red reverse
[color "status"]
 added = green bold
 changed = yellow bold
  untracked = red bold
[diff]
 tool = vimdiff
[difftool]
  prompt = false
[delta "decorations"]
 minus-style = red bold normal
 plus-style = green bold normal
 minus-emph-style = white bold red
 minus-non-emph-style = red bold normal
 plus-emph-style = white bold green
 plus-non-emph-style = green bold normal
 file-style = yellow bold none
 file-decoration-style = yellow box
 hunk-header-style = magenta bold
 hunk-header-decoration-style = magenta box
 minus-empty-line-marker-style = normal normal
 plus-empty-line-marker-style = normal normal
 line-numbers-right-format = "{np:^4}│ "
[trim]
 bases = master,main
  protected = *production