Follow the instructions on Github to Create an Access Token in Github
By default, git credentials are not cached so you need to tell Git if you want to avoid having to provide them each time Github requires you to authenticate. On Mac, Git comes with an “osxkeychain” mode, which caches credentials in the secure keychain that’s attached to your system account.
You can tell Git you want to store credentials in the osxkeychain by running the following:-
git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain
Now issue a command to interract with Github which requires authentication, eg. git clone
or git pull
. When you are prompted to supply your Password for 'https://username@github.com': you enter your access token instead. Your token should now get cached in the osxkeychain automatically.
$ git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git
Cloning into 'repo'...
Username for 'https://github.com': your_github_username
Password for 'https://username@github.com': your_access_token
If your existing token has expired, or been revoked, or you are on a new machine and do not have access to the existing token then you can regerate a new one in the Github console Settings
-> Developer settings
-> Personal access tokens
.
You can check if you have an existing password or token stored in the osxkeychain
using the following command.
$ security find-internet-password -l github.com
If this returns a result you can then delete it using the following.
$ security delete-internet-password -l github.com
You should now be prompted for your Github credentials when attempting a git pull/clone/push
etc and your token should automatically get stored in the osxkeychain
. If subsequent calls to Github repeatedly prompt you for your credentials then likely the credential.helper
is not set - see next section.
If no entry for Github was found in the key chain (security find-internet-password -l github.com
) then see if you can interract with Github by doing something like a git clone
or git pull
.
$ git pull
remote: Invalid username or password.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/user/repo.git/'
If authentication fails and you are not prompted to enter your credentials, like in the above example, or you are repeatedly challenged by Github for your credentials, then check if you have the credential.helper
set.
git config --global credential.helper
If not, or it is set to something other than osxkeychain
, then update/set it.
git config --global --unset credential.helper
git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain
Then try again and you should now be prompted for your credentials.
$ git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git
Cloning into 'repo'...
Username for 'https://github.com': your_github_username
Password for 'https://username@github.com': your_access_token
Ensure you provide your access token rather than password when prompted.