Token Authentication
We’ve just added site-wide token based authentication. You can find your API token in your account page, front and center. Simply pass login and token to any URL which requires…
We’ve just added site-wide token based authentication. You can find your API token in your account page, front and center.

Simply pass login and token to any URL which requires authentication.
For example:
curl -F 'repository[name]=API_Hotness' -F 'login=defunkt' -F 'token=6ef8395fecf207165f1a82178ae1b984' http://github.com/repositories
We’ll be enhancing the API soon, but in the meantime you can use this to more easily build tools and automation around GitHub. Enjoy.
Written by
Related posts
GitHub availability report: January 2026
In January, we experienced two incidents that resulted in degraded performance across GitHub services.
Pick your agent: Use Claude and Codex on Agent HQ
Claude by Anthropic and OpenAI Codex are now available in public preview on GitHub and VS Code with a Copilot Pro+ or Copilot Enterprise subscription. Here’s what you need to know and how to get started today.
What the fastest-growing tools reveal about how software is being built
What languages are growing fastest, and why? What about the projects that people are interested in the most? Where are new developers cutting their teeth? Let’s take a look at Octoverse data to find out.