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Authentication token format updates are generally available

As we announced previously, the format of GitHub authentication tokens has changed. The following token types are affected:

If you use any of these tokens, we encourage you to reset them now. This will give you additional security benefits and allow Secret Scanning to detect the tokens.

Notably, the token formats now include the following updates:

  • The character set changed from [a-f0-9] to [A-Za-z0-9_]
  • The format now includes a prefix for each token type:
    • ghp_ for Personal Access Tokens
    • gho_ for OAuth Access tokens
    • ghu_ for GitHub App user-to-server tokens
    • ghs_ for GitHub App server-to-server tokens
    • ghr_ for GitHub App refresh tokens

The length of our tokens is remaining the same for now. However, GitHub tokens will likely increase in length in future updates, so integrators should plan to support tokens up to 255 characters after June 1, 2021.

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