About secrets
Secrets are encrypted environment variables that you create in an organization or repository. The secrets that you create are available to use in GitHub Codespaces. GitHub uses a libsodium sealed box to encrypt secrets before they reach GitHub and only decrypts them when you use them in a codespace.
Organization-level secrets let you share secrets between multiple repositories, which reduces the need to create duplicate secrets. You can use access policies to control which repositories can use organization secrets.
Once you have created a secret, it will be available when you create a new codespace or restart the codespace. To use a secret that you've just created in a current codespace, you will need to stop the codespace and resume it. For information about stopping the codespace, see "Using the Visual Studio Code Command Palette in GitHub Codespaces."
Naming secrets
The following rules apply to secret names:
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Secret names can only contain alphanumeric characters (
[a-z],[A-Z],[0-9]) or underscores (_). Spaces are not allowed. -
Secret names must not start with the
GITHUB_prefix. -
Secret names must not start with a number.
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Secret names are not case-sensitive.
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Secret names must be unique at the level they are created at. For example, a secret created at the repository level must have a unique name in that repository, and a secret created at the organization level must have a unique name at that level.
If a secret with the same name exists at multiple levels, the secret at the lowest level takes precedence. For example, if an organization-level secret has the same name as a repository-level secret, then the repository-level secret takes precedence.
Limits for secrets
You can store up to 100 secrets per organization and 100 secrets per repository.
Secrets are limited to 48 KB in size.
Adding secrets for a repository
To create secrets for an organization repository, you must have administrator access.
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On GitHub.com, navigate to the main page of the repository.
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Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.
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In the "Security" section of the sidebar, select Secrets and variables, then click Codespaces.
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At the top of the page, click New repository secret.
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Type a name for your secret in the Name input box.
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Enter the value for your secret.
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Click Add secret.
Adding secrets for an organization
When creating a secret in an organization, you can use a policy to limit which repositories can access that secret. For example, you can grant access to all repositories, or limit access to only private repositories or a specified list of repositories.
To create secrets at the organization level, you must have admin access.
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On GitHub.com, navigate to the main page of the organization.
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Under your organization name, click Settings.
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In the "Security" section of the sidebar, select Secrets and variables, then click Codespaces.
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At the top of the page, click New organization secret.
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Type a name for your secret in the Name input box.
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Enter the Value for your secret.
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From the Repository access dropdown list, choose an access policy.
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Click Add secret.
Reviewing access to organization-level secrets
You can check which access policies are applied to a secret in your organization.
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On GitHub.com, navigate to the main page of the organization.
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Under your organization name, click Settings.
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In the "Security" section of the sidebar, select Secrets and variables, then click Codespaces.
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The list of secrets includes any configured permissions and policies. For example:
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For more details on the configured permissions for each secret, click Update.
