How to add a GitHub personal access token to Visual Studio Code

Question

I received an email saying GitHub will require token authentication after August 13 2021. I want to ensure I don't have an interruption of service (push/pull) after this date. So I logged into GitHub and created a token for my single repository.

Now I want to use the token to push/pull my repository from GitHub, in Visual Studio Code, which uses Git and the command line, which I have installed on my Mac.

What do I do to add/replace the password from GitHub with the generated token I just created to push/pull from my repository? Can I do it from Visual Studio Code or does it get added from the terminal command line?

score 125 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:06

125

Follow these simple steps to set up GitHub authentication with a personal access token:

Open a command line window on your PC or Terminal on Mac

Set the current directory to your project root

cd C:\Users\Giddy\source\repo\MySampleProject

Run the command to set remote access via a token

git remote set-url origin https://username:token@github.com/username/repository.git

Example:

git remote set-url origin https://sampleuser:a7b19929***58fe65d1c@github.com/sampleuser/sampleproject.git

edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:06

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 27 '21 at 10:11

Giddy Naya

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This got GitLab authentication working for me after 2FA was made mandatory on the repo. – Ben Whitmore May 11 '21 at 11:09
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`git remote set-url origin https://username:token@github.com/username/repository.git` for troubleshooting `git push` worked very well. +1 – irahorecka Aug 13 '21 at 22:12
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I did that, and it seems to work, but it also means that the token is stored in plain text in the git config file. Surely that's not a good idea? – Alexey Uvarov Nov 12 '21 at 11:20
and it (the token) will be sent directly in the url request, which is also not very cool. – almaceleste Apr 09 '22 at 05:06
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Works on vscode in ubuntu as wel. – Arul Apr 14 '23 at 08:30

score 50 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 14 '22 at 16:26

Tested on Visual Studio Code (Mac)

no need for an extra extension. I only trust official extensions, sorry. GitHub extension by KnisterPeter

Generate a personal access token from github.com
Make sure to save your access token (e.g., ghp_pVC*****)
Open your project with Visual Studio Code or navigate to your project in the terminal, cd ~/path/to/your/project
In the Visual Studio Code terminal, git remote set-url origin https://<personal_access_token>@github.com/<your_username or organization_name>/<repo_name>.git
Now you can try git push

Note:

When generating a personal access token, make sure to enable workflow:

Hint

You can type git remote -v to see your origin or upstream.

origin  https://github.com/<username>/<repo_name>.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/<username>/<repo_name>.git (push)
upstream        https://github.com/<username>/<repo_name>.git (fetch)
upstream        https://github.com/<username>/<repo_name>.git (push)

Also after setting git remote set-url origin https://<personal_access_token>@github.com/<your_username>/<repo_name>.git

Your git remote -v should be something like:

origin  https://<your_personal_access_token>@github.com/<username>/<repo_name>.git (fetch)
origin  https://<your_personal_access_token>@github.com/<username>/<repo_name>.git (push)

Good answer @sultanmyrza thanks! Just to add before step 3, you must make sure you are in the directory that holds the files you are going to commit (use cd command as appropriate) — Jose Rondon, Nov 11 '21 at 08:23
Still asking me for a password. Running on Ubuntu but that should make no difference, it doesn't work. — user1550189, Jul 08 '23 at 01:58

score 15 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 19 '21 at 19:41

15

If you get a message like this using the GitHub extension by KnisterPeter:

To enable the Visual Studio Code GitHub Support, please set a Personal Access Token

Go to Settings → Developer Settings → Personal Access Token

Or go directly to https://github.com/settings/tokens
Click Generate New Token
Go back to Visual Studio Code and open the Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P)
Type in GitHub: Set Personal Access Token
Paste in the value from your newly generated token

edited Nov 19 '21 at 19:41

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 22 '21 at 14:07

KyleMit

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"No matching commands" when searching for "Github: Set Personal Access Token" – Amar Ilindra Sep 28 '21 at 13:46
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@AmarIlindra - you'll need the [Github extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=KnisterPeter.vscode-github) installed - if you have it installed, and still don't see it, I'd file an issue there – KyleMit Sep 28 '21 at 14:49
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@KyleMit That is not an official extension – mr.loop Oct 14 '21 at 07:44
@mr.loop, sure, but it's a common one that might have brought people to this Q&A anyway since it has the same debug error message – KyleMit Oct 14 '21 at 12:47
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Not trusting a third party with my access tokens. That's just bad form. – Bus42 Feb 14 '22 at 18:50
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This extension is deprecated in favour of [Github Pull Requests and Issues] (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.vscode-pull-request-github). As noted by KnisterPeter – Rob Von Nesselrode Jun 09 '23 at 21:20

VonC · Answer 4 · 2021-11-16T21:17:47.317

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If you are using HTTPS URLs for your remote repositories, that means you can cache your credentials: today, that would be your GitHub user account name and password, tomorrow, the password will be your token.

Check your git config credential.helper result. If it is manager or manager-core, remove the old password with a git credential-manager-core erase
("destructive command" in that it will remote the github.com entry and its associated value, the password)
(a git credential-manager-core get would read that old value)

printf "protocol=https\nhost=github.com\nusername=<yourGitHubAccountName>"|git credential-manager-core erase

Then git credential-manager-core store to store the token:

printf "protocol=https\nhost=github.com\nusername=<yourGitHubAccountName>\npassword=<newToken>"|git credential-manager-core store

(replace credential-manager-core by credential-manager if the credential helper is manager instead of manager-core)

Visual Studio Code will use that credential helper, with the new "password" (token) stored for the remote site.

If you get, on Linux:

git: 'credential-manager-core' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.

You would need to to download and install GCM.

edited Nov 16 '21 at 21:17

answered Feb 16 '21 at 23:05

VonC

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I ran your command and I see 'osxkeychain' – chuckd Feb 17 '21 at 01:11
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@user1186050 For Mac, you can replace `credential-manager-core` by `credential-osxkeychain` (https://stackoverflow.com/a/28007050/6309) Or you can do it graphically: https://docs.github.com/en/github/using-git/updating-credentials-from-the-macos-keychaina – VonC Feb 17 '21 at 07:45
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I ran `git config credential.helper` and got nothing.. – Ben Whitmore May 11 '21 at 11:17
@BenWhitmore What version of Git and OS are you using? – VonC May 11 '21 at 11:52
@VonC git 2.25.1 on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS – Ben Whitmore May 13 '21 at 06:55
@BenWhitmore Is it possible to upgrade to Git 2.31.1? and then install https://github.com/microsoft/Git-Credential-Manager-Core, then install libsecret and set `credential.credentialStore` to `secretservice`, as described in https://github.com/microsoft/Git-Credential-Manager-Core/blob/master/docs/linuxcredstores.md#1-freedesktoporg-secret-service-api, and discussed in https://stackoverflow.com/a/51505417/6309. – VonC May 13 '21 at 12:19
Seems like a lot of bother. GiddyNaya's answer worked for me. – Ben Whitmore May 17 '21 at 01:48
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@BenWhitmore you mean putting a password or token in clear right in the URL? That is a bad idea, based on a bad answer. – VonC May 17 '21 at 04:47
On Linux ([Ubuntu MATE 20.04](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_MATE#Releases) (Focal Fossa), but with [Cinnamon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_(desktop_environment)). And a working Git / push to GitHub ***before*** the update to Visual Studio Code 1.62.2), for the first command line, I got `git: 'credential-manager-core' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.` and `git: 'credential-manager' is not a git command. See 'git --help'`. Git version: 2.25.1 – Peter Mortensen Nov 16 '21 at 19:29
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Perhaps mention in the answer if the first command is (really) destructive or not (`erase`)? – Peter Mortensen Nov 16 '21 at 19:31
@PeterMortensen Good idea. I have (actively) edited the answer accordingly. – VonC Nov 16 '21 at 20:44
@PeterMortensen And I have added the "download and install" link for GCM. – VonC Nov 16 '21 at 21:18
Windows cmd.exe -- https://github.com/GitCredentialManager/git-credential-manager/issues/634 – irvnriir Mar 19 '22 at 09:10

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:12

3

In Visual Studio Code, try to push or pull from the remote repository
Click the 'Signing into GitHub' message at the bottom of Visual Studio Code
Click 'Allow' in the prompt
Enter the token in the prompt that appears at the top of Visual Studio Code

To see the output related to GitHub authentication:

Open a terminal in Visual Studio Code
Click 'Output' at the top of the terminal panel
Click 'GitHub Authentication' from the drop down menu

At the time of writing, I'm on Visual Studio Code v1.56.0.

edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:12

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 07 '21 at 00:02

Chris Howard

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Had a different flow after the 1st step, but similar overall (VSCode v1.56.1, Windows). Got confused by the auth prompt asking for a "password" when it really wanted the the token though (I entered my GitHub password at first) – grunet May 24 '21 at 14:29
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i get no such prompt – Capagris Jun 30 '21 at 17:01
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when I try 'git push', I never see 'Signing into GitHub' message, all I see is 'remote: Support for password authentication was removed on August 13, 2021. Please use a personal access token remote: Please see https://github.blog/2020-12-15-token-authentication-requirements-for-git-operations/ for more information. fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/ivanpartizan/algorithms.git/': The requested URL returned error: 403' I created my Personal Access Token, but how can I use it??? – ivan milenkovic Aug 14 '21 at 01:30
@ivanmilenkovic see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/66830126/7896203 it fixed this for me – Reed Aug 19 '21 at 15:18

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:17

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If you are not prompted for your username and password, your credentials may be cached on your computer. You can update your credentials in the Keychain to replace your old password with the token.

Updating credentials from the macOS Keychain

edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:17

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 15 '21 at 09:02

Mohammed Taher

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This was my exact problem. Shutting down VS Code, removing ALL github login credentials, and restarting VS Code fixed the problem for me. I just had to re-login to turn on Settings Sync and VS Code handled all the rest – S.Chauhan Sep 16 '21 at 18:07

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:43

I was on GitHub password authentication, and got hit with Visual Studio Code's "you can't use password auth for GitHub anymore".

I was on a Mac, so I had the stock Git (v2.21).

I tried these steps and can now check in code via Visual Studio Code error free (note this approach uses Microsoft Git Credential Manager Core - see here):

Update Git using Homebrew, brew install git. It'll create a new symbolic link on your system to Git pointing to /usr/local/bin/git, so the Mac stock Git won't be used
Set up Personal Access Token with instructions on GitHub
Go into the Mac keychain and delete the vscode.github.com password credential
Install Microsoft's Git Credential Manager Core (GCMC) - instructions on GitHub
Quit and restart Visual Studio Code, and push again. You'll be prompted to authorise GCMC in a browser. Once you do that, pushing from Visual Studio Code should work automatically as the GCMC will handle Git authorisation going forward.

score 3 · Answer 8 · edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:48

3

Copy the following line and paste it into your Visual Studio Code terminal

git remote set-url origin https://<TOKEN>@github.com/<USERNAME>/<REPOSITORYNAME>.git

Replace TOKEN with your token USERNAME with username and REPOSITORYNAME with your repository. This should work. Your final line should look something like:

git remote set-url origin https://asdlkuresdflj23433423lj234@github.com/brother/sampleapp.git

edited Nov 16 '21 at 19:48

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 30 '21 at 18:18

nadir

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Certainly worked for me using VSCode 1.62.2, but where is that token stored? Hopefully not in plain text. – Karl Nov 12 '21 at 13:01
@Karl oh it totally is, in `.git/config` – SamB Mar 15 '23 at 22:57

A.Gansior · Answer 9 · 2022-12-19T07:50:01.527

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The following helped me (I am user Ubuntu 22.04): git config --local -e Edit your data ==>:

[core]
        repositoryformatversion = 0
        filemode = true
        bare = false
        logallrefupdates = true
[remote "origin"]
        url = https://YourGitlabName:YourToken@gitlab.com/YorRepo
        fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
[branch "main"]
        remote = origin
        merge = refs/heads/main
[user]
        name = YourGitlabName
        email = YourGitlabE-mail

edited Dec 19 '22 at 07:50

answered Dec 19 '22 at 07:48

A.Gansior

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This does not really answer the question. If you have a different question, you can ask it by clicking [Ask Question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask). To get notified when this question gets new answers, you can [follow this question](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/345661). Once you have enough [reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation), you can also [add a bounty](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/set-bounties) to draw more attention to this question. - [From Review](/review/late-answers/33447252) – user12256545 Dec 21 '22 at 19:47
Works perfectly! Just replace **Gitlab** info with your **GitHub** info. – Arnav Jun 24 '23 at 07:17

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 17 '21 at 20:15

0

I had the same issue and finally got the 'Signing into GitHub' prompt to appear and authenticate successfully. Basically what you need to do after getting the confirmation page below (after you click 'Authorize Visual Studio Code' in the browser window):

Success!

Authorization was successful. You will be redirected back to Visual Studio Code

Didn't work? If you aren't redirected, you can add the token manually.
        **Your authorization token:**
vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate?windowid=1&code=[Not-A+Real+Token)SJ###AASDf

......... etc

Is switch back to VS Code (probably already came into focus automatically) and choose 'Do Not Prompt Again' or whatever the message is... THENNN you can finally see and click the prompt 'Signing into GitHub ...'

Hopefully this helps someone... because as simple as it sounds, VS Code would not prompt when closing the prompt nor when choosing the option to 'Show Git Log'.

answered Aug 17 '21 at 20:15

Jesse

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Please explain "and finally got the 'Signing into GitHub' prompt to appear". Obviously you had difficulty with this and should eloborate. – Justin Solms Aug 20 '21 at 10:57
My issue was identical to that of the OP. – Jesse Sep 28 '21 at 20:19
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*How* did you get the 'Signing into GitHub' prompt to appear? Is that a conclusion of this answer or something you achieved first? If the latter, *how*? Please respond by [editing (changing) your answer](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/68823502/edit), not here in comments (***without*** "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today). – Peter Mortensen Nov 16 '21 at 21:33
@PeterMortensen I just came across this answer today. When did best practice change from being honest about adding "Update:" notes to your answer so as not to be deceptive and to have good continuity with your changes resulting from comment suggestions to what you said? – Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010 Feb 26 '22 at 17:42
@Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010: There isn't any deception when there is [a public revision history](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/66233446/revisions). See for example [this MSO question](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/230693) and [this MSO question](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/127655). – Peter Mortensen Mar 03 '22 at 09:10

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Apr 15 '22 at 00:51

I found that I was able to solve this by signing out of GitHub then signing back in. I was getting the error "No remote repository" in Visual Studio 2017 in Windows 10, when there was clearly a repository on GitHub. On the same PC, I use GitHub Desktop for python projects in Spyder, on the same GitHub account, and I was not having access errors, and I was not using Personal Access Tokens, so that pointed to an issue with the Visual Studio Connection.

How to add a GitHub personal access token to Visual Studio Code

11 Answers11

Note:

Hint

Linked