# auth-token.js
> GitHub API token authentication for browsers and Node.js
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@octokit/auth-token)
[](https://travis-ci.com/octokit/auth-token.js)
[](https://greenkeeper.io/)
`@octokit/auth-token` is the simplest of [GitHub’s authentication strategies](https://github.com/octokit/auth.js).
It is useful if you want to support multiple authentication strategies, as it’s API is compatible with its sibling packages for [basic](https://github.com/octokit/auth-basic.js), [GitHub App](https://github.com/octokit/auth-app.js) and [OAuth app](https://github.com/octokit/auth.js) authentication.
<!-- toc -->
## Usage
<table>
<tbody valign=top align=left>
<tr><th>
Browsers
</th><td width=100%>
Load `@octokit/auth-token` directly from [cdn.pika.dev](https://cdn.pika.dev)
```html
<script type="module">
import { createTokenAuth } from "https://cdn.pika.dev/@octokit/auth-token";
</script>
```
</td></tr>
<tr><th>
Node
</th><td>
Install with <code>npm install @octokit/auth-token</code>
```js
const { createTokenAuth } = require("@octokit/auth-token");
// or: import { createTokenAuth } from "@octokit/auth-token";
```
</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
```js
const auth = createTokenAuth("1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678");
const authentication = await auth();
// {
// type: 'token',
// token: '1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678',
// tokenType: 'oauth'
```
## `createTokenAuth(token) options`
The `createTokenAuth` method accepts a single argument of type string, which is the token. The passed token can be one of the following:
- [Personal access token](https://help.github.com/en/articles/creating-a-personal-access-token-for-the-command-line)
- [OAuth access token](https://developer.github.com/apps/building-oauth-apps/authorizing-oauth-apps/)
- Installation access token ([GitHub App Installation](https://developer.github.com/apps/building-github-apps/authenticating-with-github-apps/#authenticating-as-an-installation))
- [GITHUB_TOKEN provided to GitHub Actions](https://developer.github.com/actions/creating-github-actions/accessing-the-runtime-environment/#environment-variables)
Examples
```js
// Personal access token or OAuth access token
createTokenAuth("1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678");
// Installation access token or GitHub Action token
createTokenAuth("v1.d3d433526f780fbcc3129004e2731b3904ad0b86");
```
## `auth()`
The `auth()` method has no options. It returns a promise which resolves with the the authentication object.
## Authentication object
<table width="100%">
<thead align=left>
<tr>
<th width=150>
name
</th>
<th width=70>
type
</th>
<th>
description
</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody align=left valign=top>
<tr>
<th>
<code>type</code>
</th>
<th>
<code>string</code>
</th>
<td>
<code>"token"</code>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>
<code>token</code>
</th>
<th>
<code>string</code>
</th>
<td>
The provided token.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>
<code>tokenType</code>
</th>
<th>
<code>string</code>
</th>
<td>
Can be either <code>"oauth"</code> for personal access tokens and OAuth tokens, or <code>"installation"</code> for installation access tokens (includes <code>GITHUB_TOKEN</code> provided to GitHub Actions)
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
## `auth.hook(request, route, options)` or `auth.hook(request, options)`
`auth.hook()` hooks directly into the request life cycle. It authenticates the request using the provided token.
The `request` option is an instance of [`@octokit/request`](https://github.com/octokit/request.js#readme). The `route`/`options` parameters are the same as for the [`request()` method](https://github.com/octokit/request.js#request).
`auth.hook()` can be called directly to send an authenticated request
```js
const { data: authorizations } = await auth.hook(
request,
"GET /authorizations"
);
```
Or it can be passed as option to [`request()`](https://github.com/octokit/request.js#request).
```js
const requestWithAuth = request.defaults({
request: {
hook: auth.hook
}
});
const { data: authorizations } = await requestWithAuth("GET /authorizations");
```
## Find more information
`auth()` does not send any requests, it only transforms the provided token string into an authentication object.
Here is a list of things you can do to retrieve further information
### Find out what scopes are enabled for oauth tokens
Note that this does not work for installations. There is no way to retrieve permissions based on an installation access tokens.
```js
const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";
const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
const authentication = await auth();
const response = await request("HEAD /", {
headers: authentication.headers
});
const scopes = response.headers["x-oauth-scopes"].split(/,\s+/);
if (scopes.length) {
console.log(
`"${TOKEN}" has ${scopes.length} scopes enabled: ${scopes.join(", ")}`
);
} else {
console.log(`"${TOKEN}" has no scopes enabled`);
}
```
### Find out if token is a personal access token or if it belongs to an OAuth app
```js
const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";
const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
const authentication = await auth();
const response = await request("HEAD /", {
headers: authentication.headers
});
const clientId = response.headers["x-oauth-client-id"];
if (clientId) {
console.log(
`"${token}" is an OAuth token, its app’s client_id is ${clientId}.`
);
} else {
console.log(`"${token}" is a personal access token`);
}
```
### Find out what permissions are enabled for a repository
Note that the `permissions` key is not set when authenticated using an installation access token.
```js
const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";
const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
const authentication = await auth();
const response = await request("GET /repos/:owner/:repo", {
owner: 'octocat',
repo: 'hello-world'
headers: authentication.headers
});
console.log(response.data.permissions)
// {
// admin: true,
// push: true,
// pull: true
// }
```
### Use token for git operations
Both OAuth and installation access tokens can be used for git operations. However, when using with an installation, [the token must be prefixed with `x-access-token`](https://developer.github.com/apps/building-github-apps/authenticating-with-github-apps/#http-based-git-access-by-an-installation).
This example is using the [`execa`](https://github.com/sindresorhus/execa) package to run a `git push` command.
```js
const TOKEN = "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678";
const auth = createTokenAuth(TOKEN);
const { token, tokenType } = await auth();
const tokenWithPrefix =
tokenType === "installation" ? `x-access-token:${token}` : token;
const repositoryUrl = `https://${tokenWithPrefix}@github.com/octocat/hello-world.git`;
const { stdout } = await execa("git", ["push", repositoryUrl]);
console.log(stdout);
```
## License
[MIT](LICENSE)