Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates how to build a command line interface (CLI) backed by a GitHub App, and how to use the device flow to generate a user access token for the app.
The CLI will have three commands:
help
: Outputs the usage instructions.login
: Generates a user access token that the app can use to make API requests on behalf of the user.whoami
: Returns information about the logged in user.
This tutorial uses Ruby, but you can write a CLI and use the device flow to generate a user access token with any programming language.
About device flow and user access tokens
The CLI will use the device flow to authenticate a user and generate a user access token. Then, the CLI can use the user access token to make API requests on behalf of the authenticated user.
Your app should use a user access token if you want to attribute the app's actions to a user. For more information, see "Authenticating with a GitHub App on behalf of a user."
There are two ways to generate a user access token for a GitHub App: web application flow and device flow. You should use the device flow to generate a user access token if your app is headless or does not have access to a web interface. For example, CLI tools, simple Raspberry Pis, and desktop applications should use the device flow. If your app has access to a web interface, you should use web application flow instead. For more information, see "Generating a user access token for a GitHub App" and "Building a "Login with GitHub" button with a GitHub App."
Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have already registered a GitHub App. For more information about registering a GitHub App, see "Registering a GitHub App."
Before following this tutorial, you must enable device flow for your app. For more information about enabling device flow for your app, see "Modifying a GitHub App registration."
This tutorial assumes that you have a basic understanding of Ruby. For more information, see Ruby.
Get the client ID
You will need your app's client ID in order to generate a user access token via the device flow.
- In the upper-right corner of any page on GitHub, click your profile photo.
- Navigate to your account settings.
- For an app owned by a personal account, click Settings.
- For an app owned by an organization:
- Click Your organizations.
- To the right of the organization, click Settings.
- In the left sidebar, click Developer settings.
- In the left sidebar, click GitHub Apps.
- Next to the GitHub App that you want to work with, click Edit.
- On the app's settings page, find the client ID for your app. You will use it later in this tutorial. Note that the client ID is different from the app ID.
Write the CLI
These steps lead you through building a CLI and using device flow to get a user access token. To skip ahead to the final code, see "Full code example."
Setup
-
Create a Ruby file to hold the code that will generate a user access token. This tutorial will name the file
app_cli.rb
. -
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run the following command to makeapp_cli.rb
executable:Text chmod +x app_cli.rb
chmod +x app_cli.rb
-
Add this line to the top of
app_cli.rb
to indicate that the Ruby interpreter should be used to run the script:Ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
-
Add these dependencies to the top of
app_cli.rb
, following#!/usr/bin/env ruby
:Ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils"
require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils"
These are all part of the Ruby standard library, so you don't need to install any gems.
-
Add the following
main
function that will serve as an entry point. The function includes acase
statement to take different actions depending on which command is specified. You will expand thiscase
statement later.Ruby def main case ARGV[0] when "help" puts "`help` is not yet defined" when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command `#{ARGV[0]}`" end end
def main case ARGV[0] when "help" puts "`help` is not yet defined" when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command `#{ARGV[0]}`" end end
-
At the bottom of the file, add the following line to call the entry point function. This function call should remain at the bottom of your file as you add more functions to this file later in the tutorial.
Ruby main
main
-
Optionally, check your progress:
app_cli.rb
now looks like this:Ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" def main case ARGV[0] when "help" puts "`help` is not yet defined" when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command `#{ARGV[0]}`" end end main
#!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" def main case ARGV[0] when "help" puts "`help` is not yet defined" when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command `#{ARGV[0]}`" end end main
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb help
. You should see this output:`help` is not yet defined
You can also test your script without a command or with an unhandled command. For example,
./app_cli.rb create-issue
should output:Unknown command `create-issue`
Add a help
command
-
Add the following
help
function toapp_cli.rb
. Currently, thehelp
function prints a line to tell users that this CLI takes one command, "help". You will expand thishelp
function later.Ruby def help puts "usage: app_cli <help>" end
def help puts "usage: app_cli <help>" end
-
Update the
main
function to call thehelp
function when thehelp
command is given:Ruby def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end
def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end
-
Optionally, check your progress:
app_cli.rb
now looks like this. The order of the functions doesn't matter as long as themain
function call is at the end of the file.Ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" def help puts "usage: app_cli <help>" end def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end main
#!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" def help puts "usage: app_cli <help>" end def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" puts "`login` is not yet defined" when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end main
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb help
. You should see this output:usage: app_cli <help>
Add a login
command
The login
command will run the device flow to get a user access token. For more information, see "Generating a user access token for a GitHub App."
-
Near the top of your file, after the
require
statements, add theCLIENT_ID
of your GitHub App as a constant inapp_cli.rb
. For more information about finding your app's client ID, see "Get the client ID." ReplaceYOUR_CLIENT_ID
with the client ID of your app:Ruby CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
-
Add the following
parse_response
function toapp_cli.rb
. This function parses a response from the GitHub REST API. When the response status is200 OK
or201 Created
, the function returns the parsed response body. Otherwise, the function prints the response and body and exits the program.Ruby def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end
def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end
-
Add the following
request_device_code
function toapp_cli.rb
. This function makes aPOST
request tohttp(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code
and returns the response.Ruby def request_device_code uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code") parameters = URI.encode_www_form("client_id" => CLIENT_ID) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end
def request_device_code uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code") parameters = URI.encode_www_form("client_id" => CLIENT_ID) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end
-
Add the following
request_token
function toapp_cli.rb
. This function makes aPOST
request tohttp(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token
and returns the response.Ruby def request_token(device_code) uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token") parameters = URI.encode_www_form({ "client_id" => CLIENT_ID, "device_code" => device_code, "grant_type" => "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code" }) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end
def request_token(device_code) uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token") parameters = URI.encode_www_form({ "client_id" => CLIENT_ID, "device_code" => device_code, "grant_type" => "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code" }) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end
-
Add the following
poll_for_token
function toapp_cli.rb
. This function pollshttp(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token
at the specified interval until GitHub responds with anaccess_token
parameter instead of anerror
parameter. Then, it writes the user access token to a file and restricts the permissions on the file.Ruby def poll_for_token(device_code, interval) loop do response = request_token(device_code) error, access_token = response.values_at("error", "access_token") if error case error when "authorization_pending" # The user has not yet entered the code. # Wait, then poll again. sleep interval next when "slow_down" # The app polled too fast. # Wait for the interval plus 5 seconds, then poll again. sleep interval + 5 next when "expired_token" # The `device_code` expired, and the process needs to restart. puts "The device code has expired. Please run `login` again." exit 1 when "access_denied" # The user cancelled the process. Stop polling. puts "Login cancelled by user." exit 1 else puts response exit 1 end end File.write("./.token", access_token) # Set the file permissions so that only the file owner can read or modify the file FileUtils.chmod(0600, "./.token") break end end
def poll_for_token(device_code, interval) loop do response = request_token(device_code) error, access_token = response.values_at("error", "access_token") if error case error when "authorization_pending" # The user has not yet entered the code. # Wait, then poll again. sleep interval next when "slow_down" # The app polled too fast. # Wait for the interval plus 5 seconds, then poll again. sleep interval + 5 next when "expired_token" # The `device_code` expired, and the process needs to restart. puts "The device code has expired. Please run `login` again." exit 1 when "access_denied" # The user cancelled the process. Stop polling. puts "Login cancelled by user." exit 1 else puts response exit 1 end end File.write("./.token", access_token) # Set the file permissions so that only the file owner can read or modify the file FileUtils.chmod(0600, "./.token") break end end
-
Add the following
login
function.This function:
- Calls the
request_device_code
function and gets theverification_uri
,user_code
,device_code
, andinterval
parameters from the response. - Prompts users to enter the
user_code
from the previous step. - Calls the
poll_for_token
to poll GitHub for an access token. - Lets the user know that authentication was successful.
Ruby def login verification_uri, user_code, device_code, interval = request_device_code.values_at("verification_uri", "user_code", "device_code", "interval") puts "Please visit: #{verification_uri}" puts "and enter code: #{user_code}" poll_for_token(device_code, interval) puts "Successfully authenticated!" end
def login verification_uri, user_code, device_code, interval = request_device_code.values_at("verification_uri", "user_code", "device_code", "interval") puts "Please visit: #{verification_uri}" puts "and enter code: #{user_code}" poll_for_token(device_code, interval) puts "Successfully authenticated!" end
- Calls the
-
Update the
main
function to call thelogin
function when thelogin
command is given:Ruby def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end
def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end
-
Update the
help
function to include thelogin
command:Ruby def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | help>" end
def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | help>" end
-
Optionally, check your progress:
app_cli.rb
now looks something like this, whereYOUR_CLIENT_ID
is the client ID of your app. The order of the functions doesn't matter as long as themain
function call is at the end of the file.Ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID" def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | help>" end def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end def request_device_code uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code") parameters = URI.encode_www_form("client_id" => CLIENT_ID) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end def request_token(device_code) uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token") parameters = URI.encode_www_form({ "client_id" => CLIENT_ID, "device_code" => device_code, "grant_type" => "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code" }) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end def poll_for_token(device_code, interval) loop do response = request_token(device_code) error, access_token = response.values_at("error", "access_token") if error case error when "authorization_pending" # The user has not yet entered the code. # Wait, then poll again. sleep interval next when "slow_down" # The app polled too fast. # Wait for the interval plus 5 seconds, then poll again. sleep interval + 5 next when "expired_token" # The `device_code` expired, and the process needs to restart. puts "The device code has expired. Please run `login` again." exit 1 when "access_denied" # The user cancelled the process. Stop polling. puts "Login cancelled by user." exit 1 else puts response exit 1 end end File.write("./.token", access_token) # Set the file permissions so that only the file owner can read or modify the file FileUtils.chmod(0600, "./.token") break end end def login verification_uri, user_code, device_code, interval = request_device_code.values_at("verification_uri", "user_code", "device_code", "interval") puts "Please visit: #{verification_uri}" puts "and enter code: #{user_code}" poll_for_token(device_code, interval) puts "Successfully authenticated!" end main
#!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID" def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | help>" end def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" puts "`whoami` is not yet defined" else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end def request_device_code uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code") parameters = URI.encode_www_form("client_id" => CLIENT_ID) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end def request_token(device_code) uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token") parameters = URI.encode_www_form({ "client_id" => CLIENT_ID, "device_code" => device_code, "grant_type" => "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code" }) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end def poll_for_token(device_code, interval) loop do response = request_token(device_code) error, access_token = response.values_at("error", "access_token") if error case error when "authorization_pending" # The user has not yet entered the code. # Wait, then poll again. sleep interval next when "slow_down" # The app polled too fast. # Wait for the interval plus 5 seconds, then poll again. sleep interval + 5 next when "expired_token" # The `device_code` expired, and the process needs to restart. puts "The device code has expired. Please run `login` again." exit 1 when "access_denied" # The user cancelled the process. Stop polling. puts "Login cancelled by user." exit 1 else puts response exit 1 end end File.write("./.token", access_token) # Set the file permissions so that only the file owner can read or modify the file FileUtils.chmod(0600, "./.token") break end end def login verification_uri, user_code, device_code, interval = request_device_code.values_at("verification_uri", "user_code", "device_code", "interval") puts "Please visit: #{verification_uri}" puts "and enter code: #{user_code}" poll_for_token(device_code, interval) puts "Successfully authenticated!" end main
-
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb login
. You should see output that looks like this. The code will differ every time:Please visit: http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device and enter code: CA86-8D94
-
Navigate to http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device in your browser and enter the code from the previous step, then click Continue.
-
GitHub should display a page that prompts you to authorize your app. Click the "Authorize" button.
-
Your terminal should now say "Successfully authenticated!".
-
Add a whoami
command
Now that your app can generate a user access token, you can make API requests on behalf of the user. Add a whoami
command to get the username of the authenticated user.
-
Add the following
whoami
function toapp_cli.rb
. This function gets information about the user with the/user
REST API endpoint. It outputs the username that corresponds to the user access token. If the.token
file was not found, it prompts the user to run thelogin
function.Ruby def whoami uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user") begin token = File.read("./.token").strip rescue Errno::ENOENT => e puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command." exit 1 end response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http| body = {"access_token" => token}.to_json headers = {"Accept" => "application/vnd.github+json", "Authorization" => "Bearer #{token}"} http.send_request("GET", uri.path, body, headers) end parsed_response = parse_response(response) puts "You are #{parsed_response["login"]}" end
def whoami uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user") begin token = File.read("./.token").strip rescue Errno::ENOENT => e puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command." exit 1 end response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http| body = {"access_token" => token}.to_json headers = {"Accept" => "application/vnd.github+json", "Authorization" => "Bearer #{token}"} http.send_request("GET", uri.path, body, headers) end parsed_response = parse_response(response) puts "You are #{parsed_response["login"]}" end
-
Update the
parse_response
function to handle the case where the token has expired or been revoked. Now, if you get a401 Unauthorized
response, the CLI will prompt the user to run thelogin
command.Ruby def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) when Net::HTTPUnauthorized puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command." exit 1 else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end
def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) when Net::HTTPUnauthorized puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command." exit 1 else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end
-
Update the
main
function to call thewhoami
function when thewhoami
command is given:Ruby def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" whoami else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end
def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" whoami else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end
-
Update the
help
function to include thewhoami
command:Ruby def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | whoami | help>" end
def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | whoami | help>" end
-
Check your code against the full code example in the next section. You can test your code by following the steps outlined in the "Testing" section below the full code example.
Full code example
This is the full code example that was outlined in the previous section. Replace YOUR_CLIENT_ID
with the client ID of your app.
#!/usr/bin/env ruby require "net/http" require "json" require "uri" require "fileutils" CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID" def help puts "usage: app_cli <login | whoami | help>" end def main case ARGV[0] when "help" help when "login" login when "whoami" whoami else puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}" end end def parse_response(response) case response when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated JSON.parse(response.body) when Net::HTTPUnauthorized puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command." exit 1 else puts response puts response.body exit 1 end end def request_device_code uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code") parameters = URI.encode_www_form("client_id" => CLIENT_ID) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end def request_token(device_code) uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token") parameters = URI.encode_www_form({ "client_id" => CLIENT_ID, "device_code" => device_code, "grant_type" => "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code" }) headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"} response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers) parse_response(response) end def poll_for_token(device_code, interval) loop do response = request_token(device_code) error, access_token = response.values_at("error", "access_token") if error case error when "authorization_pending" # The user has not yet entered the code. # Wait, then poll again. sleep interval next when "slow_down" # The app polled too fast. # Wait for the interval plus 5 seconds, then poll again. sleep interval + 5 next when "expired_token" # The `device_code` expired, and the process needs to restart. puts "The device code has expired. Please run `login` again." exit 1 when "access_denied" # The user cancelled the process. Stop polling. puts "Login cancelled by user." exit 1 else puts response exit 1 end end File.write("./.token", access_token) # Set the file permissions so that only the file owner can read or modify the file FileUtils.chmod(0600, "./.token") break end end def login verification_uri, user_code, device_code, interval = request_device_code.values_at("verification_uri", "user_code", "device_code", "interval") puts "Please visit: #{verification_uri}" puts "and enter code: #{user_code}" poll_for_token(device_code, interval) puts "Successfully authenticated!" end def whoami uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user") begin token = File.read("./.token").strip rescue Errno::ENOENT => e puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command." exit 1 end response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http| body = {"access_token" => token}.to_json headers = {"Accept" => "application/vnd.github+json", "Authorization" => "Bearer #{token}"} http.send_request("GET", uri.path, body, headers) end parsed_response = parse_response(response) puts "You are #{parsed_response["login"]}" end main
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require "net/http"
require "json"
require "uri"
require "fileutils"
CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
def help
puts "usage: app_cli <login | whoami | help>"
end
def main
case ARGV[0]
when "help"
help
when "login"
login
when "whoami"
whoami
else
puts "Unknown command #{ARGV[0]}"
end
end
def parse_response(response)
case response
when Net::HTTPOK, Net::HTTPCreated
JSON.parse(response.body)
when Net::HTTPUnauthorized
puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command."
exit 1
else
puts response
puts response.body
exit 1
end
end
def request_device_code
uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device/code")
parameters = URI.encode_www_form("client_id" => CLIENT_ID)
headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"}
response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers)
parse_response(response)
end
def request_token(device_code)
uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/oauth/access_token")
parameters = URI.encode_www_form({
"client_id" => CLIENT_ID,
"device_code" => device_code,
"grant_type" => "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code"
})
headers = {"Accept" => "application/json"}
response = Net::HTTP.post(uri, parameters, headers)
parse_response(response)
end
def poll_for_token(device_code, interval)
loop do
response = request_token(device_code)
error, access_token = response.values_at("error", "access_token")
if error
case error
when "authorization_pending"
# The user has not yet entered the code.
# Wait, then poll again.
sleep interval
next
when "slow_down"
# The app polled too fast.
# Wait for the interval plus 5 seconds, then poll again.
sleep interval + 5
next
when "expired_token"
# The `device_code` expired, and the process needs to restart.
puts "The device code has expired. Please run `login` again."
exit 1
when "access_denied"
# The user cancelled the process. Stop polling.
puts "Login cancelled by user."
exit 1
else
puts response
exit 1
end
end
File.write("./.token", access_token)
# Set the file permissions so that only the file owner can read or modify the file
FileUtils.chmod(0600, "./.token")
break
end
end
def login
verification_uri, user_code, device_code, interval = request_device_code.values_at("verification_uri", "user_code", "device_code", "interval")
puts "Please visit: #{verification_uri}"
puts "and enter code: #{user_code}"
poll_for_token(device_code, interval)
puts "Successfully authenticated!"
end
def whoami
uri = URI("http(s)://HOSTNAME/api/v3/user")
begin
token = File.read("./.token").strip
rescue Errno::ENOENT => e
puts "You are not authorized. Run the `login` command."
exit 1
end
response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http|
body = {"access_token" => token}.to_json
headers = {"Accept" => "application/vnd.github+json", "Authorization" => "Bearer #{token}"}
http.send_request("GET", uri.path, body, headers)
end
parsed_response = parse_response(response)
puts "You are #{parsed_response["login"]}"
end
main
Testing
This tutorial assumes that your app code is stored in a file named app_cli.rb
.
-
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb help
. You should see output that looks like this.usage: app_cli <login | whoami | help>
-
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb login
. You should see output that looks like this. The code will differ every time:Please visit: http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device and enter code: CA86-8D94
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Navigate to http(s)://HOSTNAME/login/device in your browser and enter the code from the previous step, then click Continue.
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GitHub should display a page that prompts you to authorize your app. Click the "Authorize" button.
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Your terminal should now say "Successfully authenticated!".
-
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb whoami
. You should see output that looks like this, whereoctocat
is your username.You are octocat
-
Open the
.token
file in your editor, and modify the token. Now, the token is invalid. -
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb whoami
. You should see output that looks like this:You are not authorized. Run the `login` command.
-
Delete the
.token
file. -
In your terminal, from the directory where
app_cli.rb
is stored, run./app_cli.rb whoami
. You should see output that looks like this:You are not authorized. Run the `login` command.
Next steps
Adjust the code to meet your app's needs
This tutorial demonstrated how to write a CLI that uses the device flow to generate a user access token. You can expand this CLI to accept additional commands. For example, you can add a create-issue
command that opens an issue. Remember to update your app's permissions if your app needs additional permissions for the API requests that you want to make. For more information, see "Choosing permissions for a GitHub App."
Securely store tokens
This tutorial generates a user access token and saves it in a local file. You should never commit this file or publicize the token.
Depending on your device, you may choose different ways to store the token. You should check the best practices for storing tokens on your device.
For more information, see "Best practices for creating a GitHub App."
Follow best practices
You should aim to follow best practices with your GitHub App. For more information, see "Best practices for creating a GitHub App."