Recovering your account if you lose your 2FA credentials

In this article

• Using a two-factor authentication recovery code
• Authenticating with a security key
• Further reading

Using a two-factor authentication recovery code

Use one of your recovery codes to automatically regain entry into your account. You may have saved your recovery codes to a password manager or your computer's downloads folder. The default filename for recovery codes is github-recovery-codes.txt. For more information about recovery codes, see "Configuring two-factor authentication recovery methods."

1. Type your username and password to prompt authentication.
2. On the 2FA page, under "Don't have your phone?", click Enter a two-factor recovery code.
   
3. Type one of your recovery codes, then click Verify.
   

Authenticating with a security key

If you configured two-factor authentication using a security key, you can use your security key as a secondary authentication method to automatically regain access to your account. For more information, see "Configuring two-factor authentication."

Further reading

• "About two-factor authentication"
• "Configuring two-factor authentication"
• "Configuring two-factor authentication recovery methods"
• "Accessing GitHub using two-factor authentication"