Github clone with oauth access token

96
votes

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.

7
gitgithuboauth
What is the difference between "If I try this manually" and "If I try it on the commandline"? – Sebastian Mach
Please correct the URI-token syntax, see stackoverflow.com/a/29570677/287948 – Peter Krauss
@PeterKrauss Linking to an unrelated thread seems a bit uncalled for, especially if it's a "closed" topic – deiga

7 Answers

83
votes

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.

40
votes

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

https://[email protected]/username/repo.git
26
votes

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.

10
votes

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)

enter image description here

👍

10
votes

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
1
votes

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);
        }
0
votes

Please try this.

git clone `https://oauth2:[email protected]/username/repo.git`

For example, git clone https://oauth2:[email protected]/gituser/testrepo.git