Use GITHUB_TOKEN in workflows

Using the GITHUB_TOKEN in a workflow

You can use the GITHUB_TOKEN by using the standard syntax for referencing secrets: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}. Examples of using the GITHUB_TOKEN include passing the token as an input to an action, or using it to make an authenticated GitHub API request.

Example 1: passing the GITHUB_TOKEN as an input

This example workflow uses the GitHub CLI, which requires the GITHUB_TOKEN as the value for the GH_TOKEN input parameter:

name: Open new issue
on: workflow_dispatch

jobs:
  open-issue:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      issues: write
    steps:
      - run: |
          gh issue --repo ${{ github.repository }} \
            create --title "Issue title" --body "Issue body"
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

name: Open new issue
on: workflow_dispatch

jobs:
  open-issue:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      issues: write
    steps:
      - run: |
          gh issue --repo ${{ github.repository }} \
            create --title "Issue title" --body "Issue body"
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Example 2: calling the REST API

You can use the GITHUB_TOKEN to make authenticated API calls. This example workflow creates an issue using the GitHub REST API:

name: Create issue on commit

on: [ push ]

jobs:
  create_issue:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      issues: write
    steps:
      - name: Create issue using REST API
        run: |
          curl --request POST \
          --url https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/issues \
          --header 'authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}' \
          --header 'content-type: application/json' \
          --data '{
            "title": "Automated issue for commit: ${{ github.sha }}",
            "body": "This issue was automatically created by the GitHub Action workflow **${{ github.workflow }}**. \n\n The commit hash was: _${{ github.sha }}_."
            }' \
          --fail

Modifying the permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN

You can modify the permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN in individual workflow files. If the default permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN are restrictive, you may have to elevate the permissions to allow some actions and commands to run successfully. If the default permissions are permissive, you can edit the workflow file to remove some permissions from the GITHUB_TOKEN. As a good security practice, you should grant the GITHUB_TOKEN the least required access.

You can see the permissions that GITHUB_TOKEN had for a specific job in the "Set up job" section of the workflow run log. For more information, see Using workflow run logs.

You can use the permissions key in your workflow file to modify permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN for an entire workflow or for individual jobs. This allows you to configure the minimum required permissions for a workflow or job.

You can use the permissions key to add and remove read permissions for forked repositories, but typically you can't grant write access. The exception to this behavior is where an admin user has selected the Send write tokens to workflows from pull requests option in the GitHub Actions settings. For more information, see Managing GitHub Actions settings for a repository.

The two workflow examples earlier in this article show the permissions key being used at the job level, as it is best practice to limit the permissions' scope.

For full details of the permissions key, see Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions.

Granting additional permissions

If you need a token that requires permissions that aren't available in the GITHUB_TOKEN, you can create a GitHub App and generate an installation access token within your workflow. For more information, see Making authenticated API requests with a GitHub App in a GitHub Actions workflow. Alternatively, you can create a personal access token, store it as a secret in your repository, and use the token in your workflow with the ${{ secrets.SECRET_NAME }} syntax. For more information, see Managing your personal access tokens and Using secrets in GitHub Actions.

Configuring GITHUB_TOKEN permissions with private repositories

Private repositories can control whether pull requests from forks can run workflows, and can configure the permissions assigned to GITHUB_TOKEN. For more information, see Managing GitHub Actions settings for a repository.

Next steps

• GITHUB_TOKEN
• GITHUB_TOKEN reference