Skip to main content
The REST API is now versioned. For more information, see "About API versioning."

Codespaces repository secrets

Use the REST API to manage secrets for repositories that the user has access to in a codespace.

Who can use this feature

Users with write access to a repository can manage Codespaces repository secrets.

About Codespaces repository secrets

You can create, list, and delete secrets (such as access tokens for cloud services) for repositories that the user has access to. These secrets are made available to the codespace at runtime. For more information, see "Managing encrypted secrets for your codespaces."

List repository secrets

Works with GitHub Apps

Lists all secrets available in a repository without revealing their encrypted values. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have write access to the codespaces_secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters for "List repository secrets"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repo string Required

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
per_page integer

The number of results per page (max 100).

Default: 30

page integer

Page number of the results to fetch.

Default: 1

HTTP response status codes for "List repository secrets"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples for "List repository secrets"

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/codespaces/secrets
curl -L \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/codespaces/secrets

Response

Status: 200
{ "total_count": 2, "secrets": [ { "name": "GH_TOKEN", "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z", "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z", "visibility": "all" }, { "name": "GIST_ID", "created_at": "2020-01-10T10:59:22Z", "updated_at": "2020-01-11T11:59:22Z", "visibility": "all" } ] }

Get a repository public key

Gets your public key, which you need to encrypt secrets. You need to encrypt a secret before you can create or update secrets. Anyone with read access to the repository can use this endpoint. If the repository is private you must use an access token with the repo scope. GitHub Apps must have write access to the codespaces_secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters for "Get a repository public key"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repo string Required

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

HTTP response status codes for "Get a repository public key"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples for "Get a repository public key"

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/codespaces/secrets/public-key
curl -L \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/codespaces/secrets/public-key

Response

Status: 200
{ "key_id": "012345678912345678", "key": "2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvv1234" }

Get a repository secret

Works with GitHub Apps

Gets a single repository secret without revealing its encrypted value. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have write access to the codespaces_secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters for "Get a repository secret"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repo string Required

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

secret_name string Required

The name of the secret.

HTTP response status codes for "Get a repository secret"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples for "Get a repository secret"

get/repos/{owner}/{repo}/codespaces/secrets/{secret_name}
curl -L \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/codespaces/secrets/SECRET_NAME

Response

Status: 200
{ "name": "GH_TOKEN", "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z", "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z", "visibility": "all" }

Create or update a repository secret

Works with GitHub Apps

Creates or updates a repository secret with an encrypted value. Encrypt your secret using LibSodium. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have write access to the codespaces_secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

Example of encrypting a secret using Node.js

Encrypt your secret using the libsodium-wrappers library.

const sodium = require('libsodium-wrappers')
const secret = 'plain-text-secret' // replace with the secret you want to encrypt
const key = 'base64-encoded-public-key' // replace with the Base64 encoded public key

//Check if libsodium is ready and then proceed.
sodium.ready.then(() => {
  // Convert Secret & Base64 key to Uint8Array.
  let binkey = sodium.from_base64(key, sodium.base64_variants.ORIGINAL)
  let binsec = sodium.from_string(secret)

  //Encrypt the secret using LibSodium
  let encBytes = sodium.crypto_box_seal(binsec, binkey)

  // Convert encrypted Uint8Array to Base64
  let output = sodium.to_base64(encBytes, sodium.base64_variants.ORIGINAL)

  console.log(output)
});

Example of encrypting a secret using Python

Encrypt your secret using pynacl with Python 3.

from base64 import b64encode
from nacl import encoding, public

def encrypt(public_key: str, secret_value: str) -> str:
  """Encrypt a Unicode string using the public key."""
  public_key = public.PublicKey(public_key.encode("utf-8"), encoding.Base64Encoder())
  sealed_box = public.SealedBox(public_key)
  encrypted = sealed_box.encrypt(secret_value.encode("utf-8"))
  return b64encode(encrypted).decode("utf-8")

Example of encrypting a secret using C#

Encrypt your secret using the Sodium.Core package.

var secretValue = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("mySecret");
var publicKey = Convert.FromBase64String("2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvvcCU=");

var sealedPublicKeyBox = Sodium.SealedPublicKeyBox.Create(secretValue, publicKey);

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBase64String(sealedPublicKeyBox));

Example of encrypting a secret using Ruby

Encrypt your secret using the rbnacl gem.

require "rbnacl"
require "base64"

key = Base64.decode64("+ZYvJDZMHUfBkJdyq5Zm9SKqeuBQ4sj+6sfjlH4CgG0=")
public_key = RbNaCl::PublicKey.new(key)

box = RbNaCl::Boxes::Sealed.from_public_key(public_key)
encrypted_secret = box.encrypt("my_secret")

# Print the base64 encoded secret
puts Base64.strict_encode64(encrypted_secret)

Parameters for "Create or update a repository secret"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repo string Required

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

secret_name string Required

The name of the secret.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
encrypted_value string

Value for your secret, encrypted with LibSodium using the public key retrieved from the Get a repository public key endpoint.

key_id string

ID of the key you used to encrypt the secret.

HTTP response status codes for "Create or update a repository secret"

Status codeDescription
201

Response when creating a secret

204

Response when updating a secret

Code samples for "Create or update a repository secret"

put/repos/{owner}/{repo}/codespaces/secrets/{secret_name}
curl -L \ -X PUT \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/codespaces/secrets/SECRET_NAME \ -d '{"encrypted_value":"c2VjcmV0","key_id":"012345678912345678"}'

Response when creating a secret

Delete a repository secret

Works with GitHub Apps

Deletes a secret in a repository using the secret name. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have write access to the codespaces_secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters for "Delete a repository secret"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
accept string

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
owner string Required

The account owner of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

repo string Required

The name of the repository. The name is not case sensitive.

secret_name string Required

The name of the secret.

HTTP response status codes for "Delete a repository secret"

Status codeDescription
204

No Content

Code samples for "Delete a repository secret"

delete/repos/{owner}/{repo}/codespaces/secrets/{secret_name}
curl -L \ -X DELETE \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\ -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \ https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/codespaces/secrets/SECRET_NAME

Response

Status: 204