GitHub App authentication for JavaScript
@octokit/auth-app
implements authentication for GitHub Apps using JSON Web Token, installation access tokens, and OAuth user-to-server access tokens.
- Standalone usage
- Usage with Octokit
createAppAuth(options)
ornew Octokit({ auth })
auth(options)
oroctokit.auth(options)
- Authentication object
auth.hook(request, route, parameters)
orauth.hook(request, options)
- Types
- Implementation details
- License
Browsers |
The private keys provided by GitHub are in openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -outform PEM -nocrypt -in private-key.pem -out private-key-pkcs8.key The OAuth APIs to create user-to-server tokens cannot be used because they do not have CORS enabled. If you know what you are doing, load <script type="module">
import { createAppAuth } from "https://esm.sh/@octokit/auth-app";
</script> |
---|---|
Node |
Install with import { createAppAuth } from "@octokit/auth-app"; |
Important
As we use conditional exports, you will need to adapt your tsconfig.json
by setting "moduleResolution": "node16", "module": "node16"
.
See the TypeScript docs on package.json "exports".
See this helpful guide on transitioning to ESM from @sindresorhus
const auth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef12341234567890abcdef1234",
});
// Retrieve JSON Web Token (JWT) to authenticate as app
const appAuthentication = await auth({ type: "app" });
resolves with
{
"type": "app",
"token": "jsonwebtoken123",
"appId": 123,
"expiresAt": "2018-07-07T00:09:30.000Z"
}
The OAuth Application APIs require the app to authenticate using clientID/client as Basic Authentication
const auth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef12341234567890abcdef1234",
});
const appAuthentication = await auth({
type: "oauth-app",
});
resolves with
{
"type": "oauth-app",
"clientId": "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
"clientSecret": "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678",
"headers": {
"authorization": "basic bHYxLjEyMzQ1Njc4OTBhYmNkZWY6MTIzNDU2Nzg5MGFiY2RlZjEyMzQ1Njc4OTBhYmNkZWYxMjM0NTY3OA=="
}
}
const auth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef12341234567890abcdef1234",
});
// Retrieve installation access token
const installationAuthentication = await auth({
type: "installation",
installationId: 123,
});
resolves with
{
"type": "token",
"tokenType": "installation",
"token": "token123",
"installationId": 123,
"createdAt": "2018-07-07T00:00:00.000Z",
"expiresAt": "2018-07-07T00:59:00.000Z"
}
const auth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef12341234567890abcdef1234",
});
// Retrieve an oauth-access token
const userAuthentication = await auth({ type: "oauth-user", code: "123456" });
Resolves with
{
"type": "token",
"tokenType": "oauth",
"token": "token123"
}
Browsers |
The private keys provided by GitHub are in openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -inform PEM -outform PEM -nocrypt -in private-key.pem -out private-key-pkcs8.key The OAuth APIs to create user-to-server tokens cannot be used because they do not have CORS enabled. If you know what you are doing, load <script type="module">
import { createAppAuth } from "https://esm.sh/@octokit/auth-app";
import { Octokit } from "https://esm.sh/@octokit/core";
</script> |
---|---|
Node |
Install with import { Octokit } from "@octokit/core";
import { createAppAuth, createOAuthUserAuth } from "@octokit/auth-app"; |
const appOctokit = new Octokit({
authStrategy: createAppAuth,
auth: {
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "1234567890abcdef1234",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678",
},
});
// Send requests as GitHub App
const { slug } = await appOctokit.request("GET /app");
console.log("authenticated as %s", slug);
// Send requests as OAuth App
await appOctokit.request("POST /application/{client_id}/token", {
client_id: "1234567890abcdef1234",
access_token: "existingtoken123",
});
console.log("token is valid");
// create a new octokit instance that is authenticated as the user
const userOctokit = await appOctokit.auth({
type: "oauth-user",
code: "code123",
factory: (options) => {
return new Octokit({
authStrategy: createOAuthUserAuth,
auth: options,
});
},
});
// Exchanges the code for the user access token authentication on first request
// and caches the authentication for successive requests
const {
data: { login },
} = await userOctokit.request("GET /user");
console.log("Hello, %s!", login);
In order to create an octokit
instance that is authenticated as an installation, with automated installation token refresh, set installationId
as auth
option
const installationOctokit = new Octokit({
authStrategy: createAppAuth,
auth: {
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
installationId: 123,
},
});
// transparently creates an installation access token the first time it is needed
// and refreshes it when it expires
await installationOctokit.request("POST /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues", {
owner: "octocat",
repo: "hello-world",
title: "title",
});
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
appId
|
number
|
Required. Find App ID on the app’s about page in settings. |
privateKey
|
string
|
Required. Content of the *.pem file you downloaded from the app’s about page. You can generate a new private key if needed. If your private key contains escaped newlines (`\\n`), they will be automatically replaced with actual newlines.
|
installationId
|
number
|
Default installationId to be used when calling auth({ type: "installation" }) .
|
clientId
|
string
|
The client ID of the GitHub App. |
clientSecret
|
string
|
A client secret for the GitHub App. |
request
|
function
|
Automatically set to For standalone usage, you can pass in your own import { request } from "@octokit/request";
createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
request: request.defaults({
baseUrl: "https://ghe.my-company.com/api/v3",
}),
}); |
cache
|
object
|
Installation tokens expire after an hour. By default, @octokit/auth-app is caching up to 15000 tokens simultaneously using lru-cache. You can pass your own cache implementation by passing options.cache.{get,set} to the constructor. Example:
const CACHE = {};
createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
cache: {
async get(key) {
return CACHE[key];
},
async set(key, value) {
CACHE[key] = value;
},
},
}); |
log
|
object
|
You can pass in your preferred logging tool by passing option.log to the constructor. If you would like to make the log level configurable using an environment variable or external option, we recommend the console-log-level package. For example:
import consoleLogLevel from "console-log-level";
createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
log: consoleLogLevel({ level: "info" }),
}); |
The async auth()
method accepts different options depending on your use case
Authenticate as the GitHub app to list installations, repositories, and create installation access tokens.
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
Required. Must be either "app" .
|
Create, reset, refresh, delete OAuth user-to-server tokens
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
Required. Must be either "oauth-app" .
|
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
Required. Must be "installation" .
|
installationId
|
number
|
Required unless a default installationId was passed to createAppAuth() . ID of installation to retrieve authentication for.
|
repositoryIds
|
array of numbers
|
The id of the repositories that the installation token can access. Also known as a databaseID when querying the repository object in GitHub's GraphQL API. This option is **(recommended)** over repositoryNames when needing to limit the scope of the access token, due to repositoryNames having the possibility of changing. Additionally, you should only include either repositoryIds or repositoryNames , but not both.
|
repositoryNames
|
array of strings
|
The name of the repositories that the installation token can access. As mentioned in the repositoryIds description, you should only include either repositoryIds or repositoryNames , but not both.
|
permissions
|
object
|
The permissions granted to the access token. The permissions object includes the permission names and their access type. For a complete list of permissions and allowable values, see GitHub App permissions. |
factory
|
function
|
The For example, you can create a new const appAuth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
});
const installationAuth123 = await appAuth({
type: "installation",
installationId: 123,
factory: createAppAuth,
}); |
refresh
|
boolean
|
Installation tokens expire after one hour. By default, tokens are cached and returned from cache until expired. To bypass and update a cached token for the given Defaults to |
Exchange code received from the web flow redirect described in step 2 of GitHub's OAuth web flow
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
Required. Must be "oauth-user" .
|
factory
|
function
|
The For example, you can create a new import { createAppAuth, createOAuthUserAuth } from "@octokit/auth-oauth-app";
const appAuth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678",
});
const userAuth = await appAuth({
type: "oauth-user",
code,
factory: createOAuthUserAuth,
});
// will create token upon first call, then cache authentication for successive calls,
// until token needs to be refreshed (if enabled for the GitHub App)
const authentication = await userAuth(); |
code
|
string
|
The authorization code which was passed as query parameter to the callback URL from the OAuth web application flow.
|
redirectUrl
|
string
|
The URL in your application where users are sent after authorization. See redirect urls. |
state
|
string
|
The unguessable random string you provided in Step 1 of the OAuth web application flow. |
Create a token using GitHub's device flow.
The device flow does not require a client secret, but it is required as strategy option for @octokit/auth-app
, even for the device flow. If you want to implement the device flow without requiring a client secret, use @octokit/auth-oauth-device
.
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
Required. Must be "oauth-user" .
|
onVerification
|
function
|
Required. A function that is called once the device and user codes were retrieved. The const auth = auth({
type: "oauth-user",
onVerification(verification) {
console.log("Open %s", verification.verification_uri);
console.log("Enter code: %s", verification.user_code);
await prompt("press enter when you are ready to continue");
},
}); |
factory
|
function
|
The For example, you can create a new import { createAppAuth, createOAuthUserAuth } from "@octokit/auth-oauth-app";
const appAuth = createAppAuth({
appId: 1,
privateKey: "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
clientId: "lv1.1234567890abcdef",
clientSecret: "1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678",
});
const userAuth = await appAuth({
type: "oauth-user",
code,
factory: createOAuthUserAuth,
});
// will create token upon first call, then cache authentication for successive calls,
// until token needs to be refreshed (if enabled for the GitHub App)
const authentication = await userAuth(); |
Depending on on the auth()
call, the resulting authentication object can be one of
- JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication
- OAuth App authentication
- Installation access token authentication
- GitHub APP user authentication token with expiring disabled
- GitHub APP user authentication token with expiring enabled
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
"app"
|
token
|
string
|
The JSON Web Token (JWT) to authenticate as the app. |
appId
|
number
|
GitHub App database ID. |
expiresAt
|
string
|
Timestamp in UTC format, e.g. "2018-07-07T00:09:30.000Z" . A Date object can be created using new Date(authentication.expiresAt) .
|
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
"oauth-app"
|
clientType
|
string
|
"github-app"
|
clientId
|
string
|
The client ID as passed to the constructor. |
clientSecret
|
string
|
The client secret as passed to the constructor. |
headers
|
object
|
{ authorization } .
|
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
"token"
|
token
|
string
|
The installation access token. |
tokenType
|
string
|
"installation"
|
installationId
|
number
|
Installation database ID. |
createdAt
|
string
|
Timestamp in UTC format, e.g. "2018-07-07T00:00:00.000Z" . A Date object can be created using new Date(authentication.expiresAt) .
|
expiresAt
|
string
|
Timestamp in UTC format, e.g. "2018-07-07T00:59:00.000Z" . A Date object can be created using new Date(authentication.expiresAt) .
|
repositoryIds
|
array of numbers
|
Only present if repositoryIds option passed to auth(options) .
|
repositoryNames
|
array of strings
|
Only present if repositoryNames option passed to auth(options) .
|
permissions
|
object
|
An object where keys are the permission name and the value is either "read" or "write" . See the list of all GitHub App Permissions.
|
singleFileName
|
string
|
If the single file permission is enabled, the singleFileName property is set to the path of the accessible file.
|
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
"token"
|
tokenType
|
string
|
"oauth"
|
clientType
|
string
|
"github-app"
|
clientId
|
string
|
The app's Client ID
|
clientSecret
|
string
|
One of the app's client secrets |
token
|
string
|
The user access token |
name | type | description |
---|---|---|
type
|
string
|
"token"
|
tokenType
|
string
|
"oauth"
|
clientType
|
string
|
"github-app"
|
clientId
|
string
|
The app's Client ID
|
clientSecret
|
string
|
One of the app's client secrets |
token
|
string
|
The user access token |
refreshToken
|
string
|
The refresh token |
expiresAt
|
string
|
Date timestamp in ISO 8601 standard. Example: 2022-01-01T08:00:0.000Z
|
refreshTokenExpiresAt
|
string
|
Date timestamp in ISO 8601 standard. Example: 2021-07-01T00:00:0.000Z
|
auth.hook()
hooks directly into the request life cycle. It amends the request to authenticate either as app or as installation based on the request URL. Although the "machine-man"
preview has graduated to the official API, https://developer.github.com/changes/2020-08-20-graduate-machine-man-and-sailor-v-previews/, it is still required in versions of GitHub Enterprise up to 2.21 so it automatically sets the "machine-man"
preview for all endpoints requiring JWT authentication.
The request
option is an instance of @octokit/request
. The arguments are the same as for the request()
method.
auth.hook()
can be called directly to send an authenticated request
const { data: installations } = await auth.hook(
request,
"GET /app/installations",
);
Or it can be passed as option to request()
.
const requestWithAuth = request.defaults({
request: {
hook: auth.hook,
},
});
const { data: installations } = await requestWithAuth("GET /app/installations");
Note that auth.hook()
does not create and set an OAuth authentication token. But you can use @octokit/auth-oauth-app
for that functionality. And if you don't plan on sending requests to routes that require authentication with client_id
and client_secret
, you can just retrieve the token and then create a new instance of request()
with the authentication header set:
const { token } = await auth({
type: "oauth-user",
code: "123456",
});
const requestWithAuth = request.defaults({
headers: {
authentication: `token ${token}`,
},
});
import {
// strategy options
StrategyOptions,
// auth options
AuthOptions,
AppAuthOptions,
OAuthAppAuthOptions,
InstallationAuthOptions,
OAuthWebFlowAuthOptions,
OAuthDeviceFlowAuthOptions,
// authentication objects
Authentication,
AppAuthentication,
OAuthAppAuthentication,
InstallationAccessTokenAuthentication,
GitHubAppUserAuthentication,
GitHubAppUserAuthenticationWithExpiration,
} from "@octokit/auth-app";
When creating a JSON Web Token, it sets the "issued at time" (iat) to 30s in the past as we have seen people running situations where the GitHub API claimed the iat would be in future. It turned out the clocks on the different machine were not in sync.
Installation access tokens are valid for 60 minutes. This library invalidates them after 59 minutes to account for request delays.
All OAuth features are implemented internally using @octokit/auth-oauth-app.