Authorizing OAuth apps

GitHub's OAuth implementation supports the standard authorization code grant type and the OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant for apps that don't have access to a web browser.

If you want to skip authorizing your app in the standard way, such as when testing your app, you can use the non-web application flow.

To authorize your OAuth app, consider which authorization flow best fits your app.

• web application flow: Used to authorize users for standard OAuth apps that run in the browser. (The implicit grant type is not supported.)
• device flow: Used for headless apps, such as CLI tools.

Expiring access tokens

To enforce regular token rotation and reduce the impact of a compromised token, you can configure your OAuth app to get access tokens that expire. When your app uses access tokens that expire, you will also receive a refresh token with your access token. Both the web application flow and the device flow support expiring tokens.

The access token expires after eight hours, and the refresh token expires after six months without use. You can use the refresh token to generate a new access token and a new refresh token. For more information, see Refreshing an access token with a refresh token.

Opting in to expiring tokens at runtime

To test and gradually roll out support for expiring tokens, you can opt in to receive an expiring token and a refresh token for an individual sign-in by requesting the offline_access scope in addition to your other scopes. When you request the offline_access scope, you will receive an expiring access token and a refresh token even if your app is not configured to use expiring tokens.

If your app supports both GitHub Enterprise Server and GitHub.com, you should be prepared for the offline_access scope to have no effect, because the GitHub Enterprise Server instance may not yet support expiring tokens. In this case, you will receive a non-expiring token and no refresh token, so your app should not assume that a refresh token is always returned.

Requiring expiring tokens for your app

Once you have updated your app to use refresh tokens to handle token expiration, you can force token expiration for your app globally. This will cause all new tokens to be issued with an expiration and refresh token. Enabling this feature does not cause existing tokens to expire—they will continue to be long-lived. If you want to switch to expiring tokens, have the user sign in again. To configure this setting for your app, see Activating optional features for OAuth apps.

Web application flow

The web application flow to authorize users for your app is:

1. Users are redirected to request their GitHub identity
2. Users are redirected back to your site by GitHub
3. Your app accesses the API with the user's access token

1. Request a user's GitHub identity

GET https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize

This endpoint takes the following input parameters.

Query parameter	Type	Required?	Description
client_id	string	Required	The client ID you received from GitHub when you registered.
redirect_uri	string	Strongly recommended	The URL in your application where users will be sent after authorization. See details below about redirect urls.
login	string	Optional	Suggests a specific account to use for signing in and authorizing the app.
scope	string	Context dependent	A space-delimited list of scopes. If not provided, scope defaults to an empty list for users that have not authorized any scopes for the application. For users who have authorized scopes for the application, the user won't be shown the OAuth authorization page with the list of scopes. Instead, this step of the flow will automatically complete with the set of scopes the user has authorized for the application. For example, if a user has already performed the web flow twice and has authorized one token with user scope and another token with repo scope, a third web flow that does not provide a scope will receive a token with user and repo scope. Use of the offline_access scope to get an expiring token will not alter the scope behavior—it is not tracked as a typical scope like repo or user, and will not cause additional prompts to appear if used.
state	string	Strongly recommended	An unguessable random string. It is used to protect against cross-site request forgery attacks.
code_challenge	string	Strongly recommended	Used to secure the authentication flow with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange). Required if code_challenge_method is included. Must be a 43 character SHA-256 hash of a random string generated by the client. See the PKCE RFC for more details about this security extension.
code_challenge_method	string	Strongly recommended	Used to secure the authentication flow with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange). Required if code_challenge is included. Must be S256 - the plain code challenge method is not supported.
allow_signup	string	Optional	Whether or not unauthenticated users will be offered an option to sign up for GitHub during the OAuth flow. The default is true. Use false when a policy prohibits signups.
prompt	string	Optional	Forces the account picker to appear if set to select_account. The account picker will also appear if the application has a non-HTTP redirect URI or if the user has multiple accounts signed in.

CORS pre-flight requests (OPTIONS) are not supported at this time.

2. Users are redirected back to your site by GitHub

If the user accepts your request, GitHub redirects back to your site with a temporary code in a code parameter as well as the state you provided in the previous step in a state parameter. The temporary code will expire after 10 minutes. If the states don't match, then a third party created the request, and you should abort the process.

Exchange this code for an access token:

POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token

This endpoint takes the following input parameters.

Parameter name	Type	Required?	Description
client_id	string	Required	The client ID you received from GitHub for your OAuth app.
client_secret	string	Required	The client secret you received from GitHub for your OAuth app.
code	string	Required	The code you received as a response to Step 1.
redirect_uri	string	Strongly recommended	The URL in your application where users are sent after authorization. We can use this to match against the URI originally provided when the code was issued, to prevent attacks against your service.
code_verifier	string	Strongly recommended	Used to secure the authentication flow with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange). Required if code_challenge was sent during the user authorization. Must be the original value used to generate the code_challenge in the authorization request. This can be stored in a cookie alongside the state parameter or in a session variable during authentication, depending on your application architecture.

By default, the response takes the following form:

access_token=gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a
&scope=repo%2Cgist
&token_type=bearer

You can also receive the response in different formats if you provide the format in the Accept header. For example, Accept: application/json or Accept: application/xml:

Accept: application/json
{
  "access_token":"gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a",
  "scope":"repo,gist",
  "token_type":"bearer"
}

Accept: application/xml
<OAuth>
  <token_type>bearer</token_type>
  <scope>repo,gist</scope>
  <access_token>gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a</access_token>
</OAuth>

If your OAuth app uses expiring access tokens, or if you requested the offline_access scope, the response also includes a refresh_token, along with the expires_in and refresh_token_expires_in values that indicate when each token expires (as seconds from the current time). For more information, see Expiring access tokens.

By default, the response takes the following form:

access_token=gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a
&expires_in=28800
&refresh_token=ghr_1B4a2e77838347a7E420ce178F2E7c6912E169246c34E1ccbF66C46812d16D5B1A9Dc86A1498
&refresh_token_expires_in=15897600
&scope=repo%2Cgist
&token_type=bearer

3. Use the access token to access the API

The access token allows you to make requests to the API on a behalf of a user.

Authorization: Bearer OAUTH-TOKEN
GET https://api.github.com/user

For example, in curl you can set the Authorization header like this:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer OAUTH-TOKEN" https://api.github.com/user

Every time you receive an access token, you should use the token to revalidate the user's identity. A user can change which account they are signed into when you send them to authorize your app, and you risk mixing user data if you do not validate the user's identity after every sign in.

Device flow

The device flow allows you to authorize users for a headless application, such as a CLI tool or the Git Credential Manager.

Before you can use the device flow to authorize and identify users, you must first enable it in your app's settings. For more information about enabling the device flow in your app, see Modifying a GitHub App registration for GitHub Apps and Modifying an OAuth app for OAuth apps.

Overview of the device flow

1. Your app requests device and user verification codes and gets the authorization URL where the user will enter the user verification code.
2. The app prompts the user to enter a user verification code at https://github.com/login/device.
3. The app polls for the user authentication status. Once the user has authorized the device, the app will be able to make API calls with a new access token.

Step 1: App requests the device and user verification codes from GitHub

POST https://github.com/login/device/code

Your app must request a user verification code and verification URL that the app will use to prompt the user to authenticate in the next step. This request also returns a device verification code that the app must use to receive an access token and check the status of user authentication.

The endpoint takes the following input parameters.

Parameter name	Type	Description
client_id	string	Required. The client ID you received from GitHub for your app.
scope	string	A space-delimited list of the scopes that your app is requesting access to. For more information, see Scopes for OAuth apps.

By default, the response takes the following form:

device_code=3584d83530557fdd1f46af8289938c8ef79f9dc5
&expires_in=900
&interval=5
&user_code=WDJB-MJHT
&verification_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Flogin%2Fdevice

Parameter name	Type	Description
device_code	string	The device verification code is 40 characters and used to verify the device.
user_code	string	The user verification code is displayed on the device so the user can enter the code in a browser. This code is 8 characters with a hyphen in the middle.
verification_uri	string	The verification URL where users need to enter the user_code: https://github.com/login/device.
expires_in	integer	The number of seconds before the device_code and user_code expire. The default is 900 seconds or 15 minutes.
interval	integer	The minimum number of seconds that must pass before you can make a new access token request (POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token) to complete the device authorization. For example, if the interval is 5, then you cannot make a new request until 5 seconds pass. If you make more than one request over 5 seconds, then you will hit the rate limit and receive a slow_down error.

You can also receive the response in different formats if you provide the format in the Accept header. For example, Accept: application/json or Accept: application/xml:

Accept: application/json
{
  "device_code": "3584d83530557fdd1f46af8289938c8ef79f9dc5",
  "user_code": "WDJB-MJHT",
  "verification_uri": "https://github.com/login/device",
  "expires_in": 900,
  "interval": 5
}

Accept: application/xml
<OAuth>
  <device_code>3584d83530557fdd1f46af8289938c8ef79f9dc5</device_code>
  <user_code>WDJB-MJHT</user_code>
  <verification_uri>https://github.com/login/device</verification_uri>
  <expires_in>900</expires_in>
  <interval>5</interval>
</OAuth>

Step 2: Prompt the user to enter the user code in a browser

Your device will show the user verification code and prompt the user to enter the code at https://github.com/login/device.

Step 3: App polls GitHub to check if the user authorized the device

POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token

Your app will make device authorization requests that poll POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token, until the device and user codes expire or the user has successfully authorized the app with a valid user code. The app must use the minimum polling interval retrieved in step 1 to avoid rate limit errors. For more information, see Rate limits for the device flow.

The user must enter a valid code within 15 minutes (or 900 seconds). After 15 minutes, you will need to request a new device authorization code with POST https://github.com/login/device/code.

Once the user has authorized, the app will receive an access token that can be used to make requests to the API on behalf of a user.

The endpoint takes the following input parameters.

Parameter name	Type	Description
client_id	string	Required. The client ID you received from GitHub for your OAuth app.
device_code	string	Required. The device_code you received from the POST https://github.com/login/device/code request.
grant_type	string	Required. The grant type must be urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code.

By default, the response takes the following form:

access_token=gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a
&token_type=bearer
&scope=repo%2Cgist

You can also receive the response in different formats if you provide the format in the Accept header. For example, Accept: application/json or Accept: application/xml:

Accept: application/json
{
 "access_token": "gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "scope": "repo,gist"
}

Accept: application/xml
<OAuth>
  <access_token>gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a</access_token>
  <token_type>bearer</token_type>
  <scope>gist,repo</scope>
</OAuth>

If your OAuth app uses expiring access tokens, or if you requested the offline_access scope, the response also includes a refresh_token, along with the expires_in and refresh_token_expires_in values that indicate when each token expires. For more information, see Expiring access tokens.

access_token=gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a
&expires_in=28800
&refresh_token=ghr_1B4a2e77838347a7E420ce178F2E7c6912E169246c34E1ccbF66C46812d16D5B1A9Dc86A1498
&refresh_token_expires_in=15897600
&token_type=bearer
&scope=repo%2Cgist

Rate limits for the device flow

When a user submits the verification code on the browser, there is a rate limit of 50 submissions in an hour per application.

If you make more than one access token request (POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token) within the required minimum timeframe between requests (or interval), you'll hit the rate limit and receive a slow_down error response. The slow_down error response adds 5 seconds to the last interval. For more information, see the Error codes for the device flow.

Error codes for the device flow

Error code	Description
authorization_pending	This error occurs when the authorization request is pending and the user hasn't entered the user code yet. The app is expected to keep polling the POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token request without exceeding the interval, which requires a minimum number of seconds between each request.
slow_down	When you receive the slow_down error, 5 extra seconds are added to the minimum interval or timeframe required between your requests using POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token. For example, if the starting interval required at least 5 seconds between requests and you get a slow_down error response, you must now wait a minimum of 10 seconds before making a new request for an OAuth access token. The error response includes the new interval that you must use.
expired_token	If the device code expired, then you will see the token_expired error. You must make a new request for a device code.
unsupported_grant_type	The grant type must be urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code and included as an input parameter when you poll the OAuth token request POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token.
incorrect_client_credentials	For the device flow, you must pass your app's client ID, which you can find on your app settings page. The client_secret is not needed for the device flow.
incorrect_device_code	The device_code provided is not valid.
access_denied	When a user clicks cancel during the authorization process, you'll receive a access_denied error and the user won't be able to use the verification code again.
device_flow_disabled	Device flow has not been enabled in the app's settings. For more information, see Device flow.

For more information, see the OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant.

Refreshing an access token with a refresh token

If your OAuth app uses expiring access tokens, you can use the refresh token to generate a new access token and a new refresh token. Once you use a refresh token, that refresh token and the old access token will no longer work. For more information about expiring tokens, see Expiring access tokens.

If your refresh token expires before you use it, you must send the user through the web application flow or device flow again to get a new token pair.

To refresh an access token, make a POST request to the following URL, along with the input parameters below.

POST https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token

Parameter name	Type	Required?	Description
client_id	string	Required	The client ID you received from GitHub for your OAuth app.
client_secret	string	Required unless the token was generated using the device flow	The client secret you received from GitHub for your OAuth app.
grant_type	string	Required	The value must be refresh_token.
refresh_token	string	Required	The refresh token you received when you generated an access token.

By default, the response takes the following form:

access_token=gho_16C7e42F292c6912E7710c838347Ae178B4a
&expires_in=28800
&refresh_token=ghr_1B4a2e77838347a7E420ce178F2E7c6912E169246c34E1ccbF66C46812d16D5B1A9Dc86A1498
&refresh_token_expires_in=15897600
&scope=repo%2Cgist
&token_type=bearer

The scopes on the new access token will match the scopes of the previous token. You cannot provide a scope parameter during token refresh in order to change the access of the resulting token.

If the refresh token that you specified is invalid or expired, you will receive a bad_refresh_token error. To resolve this error, send the user through the web application flow or device flow again to get a new access token and refresh token.

Non-Web application flow

Non-web authentication is available for limited situations like testing. If you need to, you can use Basic Authentication to create a personal access token using your personal access tokens settings page. This technique enables the user to revoke access at any time.

Redirect URLs

The redirect_uri parameter is optional. If left out, GitHub will redirect users to the first callback URL configured in the OAuth app settings.

If required, you may enable wildcard matching for a callback URL. When wildcard matching is enabled, the redirect URL's host (excluding subdomains) and port must exactly match the callback URL, and the redirect URL's path must reference a subdirectory of the callback URL. This means that any subdomain or subdirectory of the callback URL will match and be allowed as a callback URL. For example, if wildcard matching is enabled for the callback URL https://example.com/path:

CALLBACK: https://example.com/path

MATCH: https://example.com/path
MATCH: https://example.com/path/subdir/other
MATCH: https://oauth.example.com/path
MATCH: https://oauth.example.com/path/subdir/other
FAIL:  https://example.com/bar
FAIL:  https://example.com/
FAIL:  https://example.com:8080/path
FAIL:  https://oauth.example.com:8080/path
FAIL:  https://example.org

When wildcard matching is disabled, the redirect URL must exactly match the callback URL. You can enable or disable wildcard matching for each callback URL in your app's settings.

Apps that had a single callback URL enabled prior to August 3, 2026 have wildcard matching enabled for that callback URL. This preserves the redirect behavior that existed before wildcard matching became a configurable setting, and is why all OAuth apps and some GitHub Apps created before that date have wildcard matching enabled. If your app does not need wildcard matching, we recommend that you disable it.

Loopback redirect urls

The optional redirect_uri parameter can also be used for loopback URLs, which is useful for native applications running on a desktop computer. If the application specifies a loopback URL and a port, then after authorizing the application users will be redirected to the provided URL and port. The redirect_uri does not need to match the port specified in the callback URL for the app.

For the http://127.0.0.1/path callback URL, you can use this redirect_uri if your application is listening on port 1234:

http://127.0.0.1:1234/path

Note that OAuth RFC recommends not to use localhost, but instead to use loopback literal 127.0.0.1 or IPv6 ::1.

Creating multiple tokens for OAuth apps

You can create multiple tokens for a user/application/scope combination to create tokens for specific use cases.

This is useful if your OAuth app supports one workflow that uses GitHub for sign-in and only requires basic user information. Another workflow may require access to a user's private repositories. Using multiple tokens, your OAuth app can perform the web flow for each use case, requesting only the scopes needed. If a user only uses your application to sign in, they are never required to grant your OAuth app access to their private repositories.

There is a limit of ten tokens that are issued per user/application/scope combination, and a rate limit of ten tokens created per hour. If an application creates more than ten tokens for the same user and the same scopes, GitHub revokes one of the existing tokens with the same user/application/scope combination, chosen in this order:

1. The oldest token that has never been used and that was created more than one minute ago. Tokens created within the last minute are usually protected, so that an application has time to use a token it has just created.
2. If there is no such token, but at least one token has been used, the token that was least recently used.
3. If no token has ever been used, the oldest token, even if it was created within the last minute.

Hitting the hourly rate limit will not revoke your oldest token. Instead, it will trigger a re-authorization prompt within the browser, asking the user to double check the permissions they're granting your app. This prompt is intended to give a break to any potential infinite loop the app is stuck in, since there's little to no reason for an app to request ten tokens from the user within an hour.

Directing users to review their access

You can link to authorization information for an OAuth app so that users can review and revoke their application authorizations.

To build this link, you'll need your OAuth app's client_id that you received from GitHub when you registered the application.

https://github.com/settings/connections/applications/:client_id

Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting authorization request errors
• Troubleshooting OAuth app access token request errors
• Device flow errors
• Token expiration and revocation

Further reading

• About authentication to GitHub