You can create a personal access token and use it in place of a password when performing Git operations over HTTPS with Git on the command line or the API.

A personal access token is required to authenticate to GitHub Enterprise when 2FA is enabled on your account.

Creating a token

  1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings. Settings icon in the user bar
  2. In the left sidebar, click Personal access tokens. Personal access tokens

  3. Click Generate new token. Generate new token button

  4. Give your token a descriptive name. Token description field
  5. Select the scopes, or permissions, you'd like to grant this token. To use your token to access repositories from the command line, select repo. Selecting token scopes
  6. Click Generate token. Generate token button
  7. Click to copy the token to your clipboard. For security reasons, after you navigate off the page, you will not be able to see the token again. Newly created token

    Warning: Treat your tokens like passwords and keep them secret. When working with the API, use tokens as environment variables instead of hardcoding them into your programs.

Using a token on the command line

Once you have a token, you can enter it instead of your password when performing Git operations over HTTPS.

For example, on the command line you would enter the following:

git clone https://hostname/username/repo.git
Username: your_username
Password: your_token

Personal access tokens can only be used for HTTPS Git operations. If your repository uses an SSH remote URL, you will need to switch the remote from SSH to HTTPS.

If you are not prompted for your username and password, your credentials may be cached on your computer. You can update your credentials in the Keychain to replace your old password with the token.