auth-action.js

GitHub API token authentication for GitHub Actions

@octokit/auth-action is one of GitHub’s authentication strategies.

It does not require any configuration, but instead reads the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable that is provided to GitHub Actions.

• Usage
• createActionAuth()
• auth()
• Authentication object
• auth.hook(request, route, options) or auth.hook(request, options)
• Find more information
• License

Usage

Install with npm install @octokit/auth-action

import { createActionAuth } from "@octokit/auth-action";

const auth = createActionAuth();
const authentication = await auth();
// {
//   type: 'token',
//   token: 'v1.1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef12345678',
//   tokenType: 'oauth'
// }

Important

As we use conditional exports, you will need to adapt your tsconfig.json by setting "moduleResolution": "node16", "module": "node16".

See the TypeScript docs on package.json "exports".
See this helpful guide on transitioning to ESM from @sindresorhus

createActionAuth()

The createActionAuth() method has no options.

It expects the GITHUB_TOKEN variable to be set which is provided to GitHub Actions, but has to be configured explicitly.

GITHUB_TOKEN can be passed as environment variable using env:

steps:
  - name: My action
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

or using with:

steps:
  - name: My action
    with:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

or named token using with:

steps:
  - name: My action
    with:
      token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

GITHUB_TOKEN can be set to any of the repository's secret, e.g. if you want to use a personal access token.

steps:
  - name: My first action
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

createActionAuth() is also checking for the GITHUB_ACTION variable to be present to make sure that it runs within a GitHub Action.

If GITHUB_ACTION or neither GITHUB_TOKEN, INPUT_GITHUB_TOKEN or INPUT_TOKEN are set an error is thrown.

auth()

The auth() method has no options. It returns a promise which resolves with the authentication object.

Authentication object

name	type	description
type	string	"token"
token	string	The provided token.
tokenType	string	Can be either "oauth" for personal access tokens and OAuth tokens, or "installation" for installation access tokens (includes GITHUB_TOKEN provided to GitHub Actions)

auth.hook(request, route, options) or auth.hook(request, options)

auth.hook() hooks directly into the request life cycle. It authenticates the request using the provided token.

The request option is an instance of @octokit/request. The route/options parameters are the same as for the request() method.

auth.hook() can be called directly to send an authenticated request

const { data: authorizations } = await auth.hook(
  request,
  "GET /authorizations",
);

Or it can be passed as option to request().

const requestWithAuth = request.defaults({
  request: {
    hook: auth.hook,
  },
});

const { data: authorizations } = await requestWithAuth("GET /authorizations");

Find more information

auth() does not send any requests, it only retrieves the token from the environment variable and transforms the provided token string into an authentication object.

The GITHUB_TOKEN provided to GitHub Actions is an installation token with all permissions provided. You can use it for git commands, too. Learn more about the differences in token authentication at @octokit/auth-action.

License

MIT