About built-in authentication
By default, GitHub Enterprise Server uses built-in authentication. Each person creates a user account on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance from an invitation or by signing up, and then authenticates with the credentials for the account to access your instance. Your GitHub Enterprise Server instance stores the authentication information for the account.
By default, users can use passkeys for built-in authentication, but you can disable passkeys for your instance. See Disabling passkeys for your instance.
You can prevent unauthenticated people from creating new user accounts on your instance. For more information, see Disabling unauthenticated sign-ups.
Alternatively, you can configure external authentication for your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. If you use external authentication, you must invite people to use your instance through your authentication provider. For more information, see About identity and access management.
Configuring built-in authentication
- From an administrative account on GitHub Enterprise Server, in the upper-right corner of any page, click .
- If you're not already on the "Site admin" page, in the upper-left corner, click Site admin.
- In the " Site admin" sidebar, click Management Console.
- In the "Settings" sidebar, click Authentication.
- Under "Authentication", select Built in authentication.
Two-factor authentication
When using LDAP or built-in authentication, two-factor authentication is supported. Organization owners can require members to have two-factor authentication enabled.
Creating your account
Once your instance has been created, you'll need to create your own admin account.
- On the "Create Admin Account" page at
http(s)://[hostname]/join, type your username, password, and email address, then click Create an account. - Sign in to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance at
http(s)://HOSTNAME/login.
Next steps
After you configure built-in authentication and create your administrative account, you can invite people to create accounts and use your instance. For more information, see Inviting people to use your instance.