How to remove cached credentials from Git?

Question

I ran:

$ git config credential.helper store

And then:

$ git push origin master

After pushing, I entered my credentials and they were saved.
I read that they are stored in plaintext, and so now I want to remove my credentials from being saved and entered by default.

How can I do this?

In order to keep control over the time that the credentials should be stored, I would recommend to edit git configuration for your OS user (~/.gitconfig OR $ git config -e --global) and add the following: [credential] helper = cache --timeout=7200 — ivanleoncz, Oct 22 '20 at 15:22

score 193 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 16 '17 at 07:16

193

Run the following command in the terminal to remove your credentials stored in the cache

git config --global --unset credential.helper

answered Oct 16 '17 at 07:16

Coder

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After running this command, my credentials are still stored in ~/.git-credentials. (Ubuntu 18.04, git version 2.17.1) So as in @torek's answer, you should delete this file as well. – mh8020 Feb 06 '19 at 14:25
@mh8020 Try my answer below. I hope it would solve your problem – Karthik Kannan Sep 27 '19 at 05:56
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For some reason, my credentials are still intact and I am still able to push/pull in all repositories. Any ideas why? – alfred Jun 12 '20 at 02:28
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this is NOT the answer – haelix Mar 25 '21 at 13:20
The cleaning up of the ~/.git-credentials are very important. In windows-10, it is in c:/Users//.git-credentials. – Pradip Sep 27 '21 at 10:06
I am getting `Fatal: could not read Password for 'https://github.com': Input/output error` ; afterwards I had to run `git config --global credential.helper store` – alper Mar 20 '22 at 09:24
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This doesn't clear the store... it just makes it so you don't use the store at all. You have to enter your creds every single time – Ian Kirkpatrick Sep 27 '22 at 18:06

score 33 · Answer 2 · answered May 29 '17 at 18:21

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Your credentials are stored in the file you (or the thing using git credential-store) specified when you (or it) ran the command, as described in the documentation. The default is $HOME/.git-credentials. You should be able to open this file in your editor and edit it, or simply remove it entirely.

Note that you may also want to change the credential helper so that these are not stored again. See the git credential-cache documentation as well, for instance.

answered May 29 '17 at 18:21

torek

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@IanKirkpatrick: there's also now a fancier way to reject one particular credential, but overall I think the whole credential system could stand some kind of regularization and overhaul. (But I'm not doing it myself either :-) ) – torek Sep 28 '22 at 13:11

score 33 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 05 '18 at 13:26

As he did not give any flag as global or local or system, it would take local by default, so the correct way is to move to the respective folder(repository) and type this command

git config --local --unset credential.helper

or

git config --unset credential.helper

Reference: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/setting-up-a-repository/git-config

score 19 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 30 '21 at 09:20

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for me unset command didn't work, instead I deleted the file:

rm ~/.git-credentials

answered Jun 30 '21 at 09:20

juan Isaza

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That's what I needed too. Worked for me. thx – raddevus Jul 02 '21 at 03:36
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Same here. It was not working for me to do just: `git config --global --unset credential.helper`. Thanks! – Pedro Delfino Aug 14 '21 at 21:40
I also deleted a file name ~/git-credentials and it worked. – Adwait Mathkari Dec 12 '22 at 13:15

score 17 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 20 '18 at 15:29

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If you would like the daemon to exit early, forgetting all cached credentials before their timeout, you can issue an exit action, run the following command.

git credential-cache exit

answered Jun 20 '18 at 15:29

Atchyut Nagabhairava

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For anyone looking to re-enter their personal access token (PAT) because the old one expired: Use this approach. This will ask you for your PAT only once (at least until you type in a correct pwd), and then will save it for you. It does NOT turn off pwd caching, which is probably what you want. – Tyler Sep 26 '22 at 17:25

score 11 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 19 '21 at 09:28

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for me all options didn't work, I just edited file "config" inside .git/ in my repository.

cd .git/

nano config

search for [remote "origin"] and edit above:

url=YOUR REPOSITORY URL (WITH OR WITHOUT user and pass like username:password@gitlab.com/username/repository.git)

save and try push your repo

edited Jul 19 '21 at 09:28

buddemat

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answered Jul 14 '21 at 22:38

WebExclusiva

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Can also use `git config --local remote.origin.url https://github.com/username/repository.git` – nikojpapa Jan 16 '22 at 16:26
This worked for me since I was updating my git username. – Isaac I9 Jan 16 '23 at 17:25

score 7 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 11 '21 at 19:11

For Linux users:

I ran into this question while trying to switch from password authentication to PAT (personal access token).

I used https to work with Github. Github suggests (at the time of writing this answer) that the switch can be done by simplying entering my PAT instead of my password. However, the problem I had, was that my password was cached, so I never had to enter it.

Source: https://docs.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/creating-a-personal-access-token

So I had to look for my cached/stored password in order to remove it, so that I can then enter my PAT instead of my password when prompted.

I found the password in the following file:

/home/MyUsername/.gitconfig

I deleted the file, and simply pasted the PAT instead of my password the next time.

Github recommends using their Git Credential Manager Core (GCM Core) for storing credentials (source: https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/caching-your-github-credentials-in-git). I installed this as well, and the PAT credentials are now stored in a different location:

/home/MyUsername/.gcm (it's a folder)

I wrote this answer in more details and perhaps a little offtopic as starting in 2 days (August 13th 2021), password authentication will no longer be possible, and I suppose some users might have difficulty in locating their cached password.

TL;DR look for:

/home/MyUsername/.gitconfig

score 7 · Answer 8 · edited Dec 17 '21 at 21:05

7

If you're on windows 10, there is a credential manager in the OS to.

Go to Start menu, type "Credential Manager", then inside this manager, select "Windows Credentials", seek for "git:https//github.com", expand it, then you'll find "Delete" inside of it.

enter image description here

edited Dec 17 '21 at 21:05

Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩

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answered Dec 17 '21 at 19:25

Thiago Timm

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vk5tu · Answer 9 · 2022-04-25T09:01:33.700

If you want to remove just one cached credential then that can be done in any operating system by driving the Git credential helper API from the Git command line:

Let's say the Git repository is git.example.com and you connect using HTTPS. At the operating system command prompt enter the Git command:

git credential reject

You're now on the command line for the credential API's reject function. Type the following lines:

protocol=https
host=git.example.com

On the next line, close the commands with the "end of stdin" keystroke for your operating system. Typically Ctrl-D for Linux and Macos, and maybe Ctrl-Z for Windows.

The credential has now been removed from the credential store. Since we are using Git's Credential API for the removal, it doesn't matter which credential store implementing that API is being used for the backend.

Do not alter Git's configuration of user.email or credential.helper before using the above command. Run the command as the userid you use to connect with the remote Git repository, not as a super-user.

I found I had to do this from the Ubuntu Terminal, doing it from the IDE terminal window did not work — David Rawson, May 29 '22 at 19:41
There's a one-liner for the above: `echo 'url=https://git.example.com' | git credential reject` — vk5tu, Sep 12 '22 at 04:09

score 6 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 28 '21 at 07:43

6

None of the above worked for me. I am using a mac what i had to do was to remove my credential manually from keychain app

Steps

Ensure credential.helper is osxkeychain

$ git config --global credential.helper
osxkeychain

Open keychain app
Search for the credential (Eg Using username) by selecting (All Items)
Press delete key
Run the git command (push, pull etc). This should prompt your new password

answered Jul 28 '21 at 07:43

Kishan B

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This is also discussed at https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/updating-credentials-from-the-macos-keychain . – LSpice Jul 28 '21 at 20:36

score 6 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 14 '22 at 22:12

6

Universal and simple solution:

echo "url=https://github.com" | git credential reject

This cancels authorization on GitHub.

answered Aug 14 '22 at 22:12

Sergey Kuznetsov

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Sheece Gardazi · Answer 12 · 2022-05-18T14:44:09.450

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None of the above solutions worked for me. I revoked the access by deletion of the token I had generated on the machine.

I logged into GitHub webpage went to: click picture > settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > delete the token for that particular machine

edited May 18 '22 at 14:44

answered Nov 16 '18 at 02:36

Sheece Gardazi

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Dec 27 '22 at 23:16

Oh goodness, here's another location - this one for KDE users. Spent a long time trying the ones already listed here...

Launch KDE Wallet Manager (also accessible from KDE Wallet settings in the system settings app), search for "github" and in the "ksshaskpass" section, remove the corresponding Github entry.

How to remove cached credentials from Git?

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