docs/content/developers/apps/authorizing-oauth-apps.md

title	intro	redirect_from	versions
Authorizing OAuth Apps	{% data reusables.shortdesc.authorizing_oauth_apps %}	[/apps/building-integrations/setting-up-and-registering-oauth-apps/about-authorization-options-for-oauth-apps/ /apps/building-integrations/setting-up-and-registering-oauth-apps/directing-users-to-review-their-access/ /apps/building-integrations/setting-up-and-registering-oauth-apps/creating-multiple-tokens-for-oauth-apps/ /v3/oauth/ /apps/building-oauth-apps/authorization-options-for-oauth-apps/ /apps/building-oauth-apps/authorizing-oauth-apps]	[{free-pro-team *} {enterprise-server *} {github-ae *}]

{% data variables.product.product_name %}'s OAuth implementation supports the standard authorization code grant type{% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" or currentVersion ver_gt "enterprise-server@2.21" or currentVersion == "github-ae@latest" %} and the OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant for apps that don't have access to a web browser{% endif %}.

If you want to skip authorizing your app in the standard way, such as when testing your app, you can use the non-web application flow.

{% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" or currentVersion ver_gt "enterprise-server@2.21" or currentVersion == "github-ae@latest" %}

To authorize your OAuth app, consider which authorization flow best fits your app.

• web application flow: Used to authorize users for standard OAuth apps that run in the browser. (The implicit grant type is not supported.)
• device flow: Used for headless apps, such as CLI tools.

{% else %}

For standard apps that run in the browser, use the web application flow to obtain an authorization code and exchange it for a token. (The implicit grant type is not supported.)

{% endif %}

Web application flow

{% note %}

Note: If you are building a GitHub App, you can still use the OAuth web application flow, but the setup has some important differences. See "Identifying and authorizing users for GitHub Apps" for more information.

{% endnote %}

The web application flow to authorize users for your app is:

1. Users are redirected to request their GitHub identity
2. Users are redirected back to your site by GitHub
3. Your app accesses the API with the user's access token

1. Request a user's GitHub identity

GET {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/authorize

When your GitHub App specifies a login parameter, it prompts users with a specific account they can use for signing in and authorizing your app.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
client_id	string	Required. The client ID you received from GitHub when you {% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" %}registered{% else %}registered{% endif %}.
redirect_uri	string	The URL in your application where users will be sent after authorization. See details below about redirect urls.
login	string	Suggests a specific account to use for signing in and authorizing the app.
scope	string	A space-delimited list of scopes. If not provided, scope defaults to an empty list for users that have not authorized any scopes for the application. For users who have authorized scopes for the application, the user won't be shown the OAuth authorization page with the list of scopes. Instead, this step of the flow will automatically complete with the set of scopes the user has authorized for the application. For example, if a user has already performed the web flow twice and has authorized one token with user scope and another token with repo scope, a third web flow that does not provide a scope will receive a token with user and repo scope.
state	string	{% data reusables.apps.state_description %}
allow_signup	string	Whether or not unauthenticated users will be offered an option to sign up for GitHub during the OAuth flow. The default is true. Use false when a policy prohibits signups.

2. Users are redirected back to your site by GitHub

If the user accepts your request, {% data variables.product.product_name %} redirects back to your site with a temporary code in a code parameter as well as the state you provided in the previous step in a state parameter. The temporary code will expire after 10 minutes. If the states don't match, then a third party created the request, and you should abort the process.

Exchange this code for an access token:

POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
client_id	string	Required. The client ID you received from {% data variables.product.product_name %} for your {% data variables.product.prodname_oauth_app %}.
client_secret	string	Required. The client secret you received from {% data variables.product.product_name %} for your {% data variables.product.prodname_oauth_app %}.
code	string	Required. The code you received as a response to Step 1.
redirect_uri	string	The URL in your application where users are sent after authorization.
state	string	The unguessable random string you provided in Step 1.

Response

By default, the response takes the following form:

access_token=e72e16c7e42f292c6912e7710c838347ae178b4a&token_type=bearer

You can also receive the content in different formats depending on the Accept header:

Accept: application/json
{"access_token":"e72e16c7e42f292c6912e7710c838347ae178b4a", "scope":"repo,gist", "token_type":"bearer"}

Accept: application/xml
<OAuth>
  <token_type>bearer</token_type>
  <scope>repo,gist</scope>
  <access_token>e72e16c7e42f292c6912e7710c838347ae178b4a</access_token>
</OAuth>

3. Use the access token to access the API

The access token allows you to make requests to the API on a behalf of a user.

Authorization: token OAUTH-TOKEN
GET {% data variables.product.api_url_code %}/user

For example, in curl you can set the Authorization header like this:

curl -H "Authorization: token OAUTH-TOKEN" {% data variables.product.api_url_pre %}/user

{% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" or currentVersion ver_gt "enterprise-server@2.21" or currentVersion == "github-ae@latest" %}

Device flow

{% if currentVersion ver_lt "enterprise-server@3.1" %} {% note %}

Note: The device flow is in public beta and subject to change.

{% endnote %} {% endif %}

The device flow allows you to authorize users for a headless app, such as a CLI tool or Git credential manager.

Overview of the device flow

1. Your app requests device and user verification codes and gets the authorization URL where the user will enter the user verification code.
2. The app prompts the user to enter a user verification code at {% data variables.product.device_authorization_url %}.
3. The app polls for the user authentication status. Once the user has authorized the device, the app will be able to make API calls with a new access token.

Step 1: App requests the device and user verification codes from GitHub

POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/device/code

Your app must request a user verification code and verification URL that the app will use to prompt the user to authenticate in the next step. This request also returns a device verification code that the app must use to receive an access token and check the status of user authentication.

Input Parameters

Name	Type	Description
client_id	string	Required. The client ID you received from {% data variables.product.product_name %} for your app.
scope	string	The scope that your app is requesting access to.

Response

{% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" %}

{
  "device_code": "3584d83530557fdd1f46af8289938c8ef79f9dc5",
  "user_code": "WDJB-MJHT",
  "verification_uri": "https://github.com/login/device",
  "expires_in": 900,
  "interval": 5
}

{% else %}

{
  "device_code": "3584d83530557fdd1f46af8289938c8ef79f9dc5",
  "user_code": "WDJB-MJHT",
  "verification_uri": "http(s)://[hostname]/login/device",
  "expires_in": 900,
  "interval": 5
}

{% endif %}

Response parameters

Name	Type	Description
device_code	string	The device verification code is 40 characters and used to verify the device.
user_code	string	The user verification code is displayed on the device so the user can enter the code in a browser. This code is 8 characters with a hyphen in the middle.
verification_uri	string	The verification URL where users need to enter the user_code: {% data variables.product.device_authorization_url %}.
expires_in	integer	The number of seconds before the device_code and user_code expire. The default is 900 seconds or 15 minutes.
interval	integer	The minimum number of seconds that must pass before you can make a new access token request (POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token) to complete the device authorization. For example, if the interval is 5, then you cannot make a new request until 5 seconds pass. If you make more than one request over 5 seconds, then you will hit the rate limit and receive a slow_down error.

Step 2: Prompt the user to enter the user code in a browser

Your device will show the user verification code and prompt the user to enter the code at {% data variables.product.device_authorization_url %}.

Step 3: App polls GitHub to check if the user authorized the device

POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token

Your app will make device authorization requests that poll POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token, until the device and user codes expire or the user has successfully authorized the app with a valid user code. The app must use the minimum polling interval retrieved in step 1 to avoid rate limit errors. For more information, see "Rate limits for the device flow."

The user must enter a valid code within 15 minutes (or 900 seconds). After 15 minutes, you will need to request a new device authorization code with POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/device/code.

Once the user has authorized, the app will receive an access token that can be used to make requests to the API on behalf of a user.

Input parameters

Name	Type	Description
client_id	string	Required. The client ID you received from {% data variables.product.product_name %} for your {% data variables.product.prodname_oauth_app %}.
device_code	string	Required. The device verification code you received from the POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/device/code request.
grant_type	string	Required. The grant type must be urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code.

Response

{
 "access_token": "e72e16c7e42f292c6912e7710c838347ae178b4a",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "scope": "user"
}

Rate limits for the device flow

When a user submits the verification code on the browser, there is a rate limit of 50 submissions in an hour per application.

If you make more than one access token request (POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token) within the required minimum timeframe between requests (or interval), you'll hit the rate limit and receive a slow_down error response. The slow_down error response adds 5 seconds to the last interval. For more information, see the Errors for the device flow.

Error codes for the device flow

Error code	Description
authorization_pending	This error occurs when the authorization request is pending and the user hasn't entered the user code yet. The app is expected to keep polling the POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token request without exceeding the interval, which requires a minimum number of seconds between each request.
slow_down	When you receive the slow_down error, 5 extra seconds are added to the minimum interval or timeframe required between your requests using POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token. For example, if the starting interval required at least 5 seconds between requests and you get a slow_down error response, you must now wait a minimum of 10 seconds before making a new request for an OAuth access token. The error response includes the new interval that you must use.
expired_token	If the device code expired, then you will see the token_expired error. You must make a new request for a device code.
unsupported_grant_type	The grant type must be urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code and included as an input parameter when you poll the OAuth token request POST {% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/login/oauth/access_token.
incorrect_client_credentials	For the device flow, you must pass your app's client ID, which you can find on your app settings page. The client_secret is not needed for the device flow.
incorrect_device_code	The device_code provided is not valid.
access_denied	When a user clicks cancel during the authorization process, you'll receive a access_denied error and the user won't be able to use the verification code again.

For more information, see the "OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant."

{% endif %}

Non-Web application flow

Non-web authentication is available for limited situations like testing. If you need to, you can use Basic Authentication to create a personal access token using your Personal access tokens settings page. This technique enables the user to revoke access at any time.

{% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" or enterpriseServerVersions contains currentVersion %} {% note %}

Note: When using the non-web application flow to create an OAuth2 token, make sure to understand how to work with two-factor authentication if you or your users have two-factor authentication enabled.

{% endnote %} {% endif %}

Redirect URLs

The redirect_uri parameter is optional. If left out, GitHub will redirect users to the callback URL configured in the OAuth Application settings. If provided, the redirect URL's host and port must exactly match the callback URL. The redirect URL's path must reference a subdirectory of the callback URL.

CALLBACK: http://example.com/path

GOOD: http://example.com/path
GOOD: http://example.com/path/subdir/other
BAD:  http://example.com/bar
BAD:  http://example.com/
BAD:  http://example.com:8080/path
BAD:  http://oauth.example.com:8080/path
BAD:  http://example.org

Localhost redirect urls

The optional redirect_uri parameter can also be used for localhost URLs. If the application specifies a localhost URL and a port, then after authorizing the application users will be redirected to the provided URL and port. The redirect_uri does not need to match the port specified in the callback url for the app.

For the http://localhost/path callback URL, you can use this redirect_uri:

http://localhost:1234/path

Creating multiple tokens for OAuth Apps

You can create multiple tokens for a user/application/scope combination to create tokens for specific use cases.

This is useful if your OAuth App supports one workflow that uses GitHub for sign-in and only requires basic user information. Another workflow may require access to a user's private repositories. Using multiple tokens, your OAuth App can perform the web flow for each use case, requesting only the scopes needed. If a user only uses your application to sign in, they are never required to grant your OAuth App access to their private repositories.

There is a limit to the number of tokens that are issued per user/application/scope combination. If your application requests enough tokens to go over one of the limits, older tokens with the same scope being requested will stop working.

{% data reusables.apps.deletes_ssh_keys %}

Directing users to review their access

You can link to authorization information for an OAuth App so that users can review and revoke their application authorizations.

To build this link, you'll need your OAuth Apps client_id that you received from GitHub when you registered the application.

{% data variables.product.oauth_host_code %}/settings/connections/applications/:client_id

{% tip %}

Tip: To learn more about the resources that your OAuth App can access for a user, see "Discovering resources for a user."

{% endtip %}

Troubleshooting

• "Troubleshooting authorization request errors"
• "Troubleshooting OAuth App access token request errors" {% if currentVersion == "free-pro-team@latest" or currentVersion ver_gt "enterprise-server@2.21" or currentVersion == "github-ae@latest" %}
• "Device flow errors" {% endif %}