Secrets

Get a repository public key
List repository secrets
Get a repository secret
Create or update a repository secret
Delete a repository secret
Get an organization public key
List organization secrets
Get an organization secret
Create or update an organization secret
List selected repositories for an organization secret
Set selected repositories for an organization secret
Add selected repository to an organization secret
Remove selected repository from an organization secret
Delete an organization secret

Encrypted secrets allow you to store sensitive information, such as access tokens, in your repository or organization. For more information, see "Creating and using encrypted secrets" in the GitHub Help documentation.

This API is available for authenticated users, OAuth Apps, and GitHub Apps. Access tokens require repo scope for private repos and public_repo scope for public repos. GitHub Apps must have the secrets permission to use this API. Authenticated users must have collaborator access to a repository to create, update, or read secrets.

GitHub Actions is available with GitHub Free, GitHub Pro, GitHub Free for organizations, GitHub Team, GitHub Enterprise Cloud, and GitHub One. GitHub Actions is not available for private repositories owned by accounts using legacy per-repository plans. For more information, see GitHub's products in the GitHub Help documentation.

Get a repository public key

Gets your public key, which you need to encrypt secrets. You need to encrypt a secret before you can create or update secrets. Anyone with read access to the repository can use this endpoint. If the repository is private you must use an access token with the repo scope. GitHub Apps must have the secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/secrets/public-key

Response

Status: 200 OK

{
  "key_id": "012345678912345678",
  "key": "2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvv1234"
}

List repository secrets

Lists all secrets available in a repository without revealing their encrypted values. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/secrets

Response

Status: 200 OK
Link: <https://api.github.com/resource?page=2>; rel="next",
      <https://api.github.com/resource?page=5>; rel="last"

{
  "total_count": 2,
  "secrets": [
    {
      "name": "GH_TOKEN",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z"
    },
    {
      "name": "GIST_ID",
      "created_at": "2020-01-10T10:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-11T11:59:22Z"
    }
  ]
}

Get a repository secret

Gets a single repository secret without revealing its encrypted value. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/secrets/:secret_name

Response

Status: 200 OK

{
  "name": "GH_TOKEN",
  "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
  "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z"
}

Create or update a repository secret

Creates or updates a repository secret with an encrypted value. Encrypt your secret using LibSodium. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

PUT /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/secrets/:secret_name

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`encrypted_value`	`string`	Value for your secret, encrypted with LibSodium using the public key retrieved from the Get a repository public key endpoint.
`key_id`	`string`	ID of the key you used to encrypt the secret.

Example encrypting a secret using Node.js

Encrypt your secret using the tweetsodium library.

const sodium = require('tweetsodium');

const key = "base64-encoded-public-key";
const value = "plain-text-secret";

// Convert the message and key to Uint8Array's (Buffer implements that interface)
const messageBytes = Buffer.from(value);
const keyBytes = Buffer.from(key, 'base64');

// Encrypt using LibSodium.
const encryptedBytes = sodium.seal(messageBytes, keyBytes);

// Base64 the encrypted secret
const encrypted = Buffer.from(encryptedBytes).toString('base64');

console.log(encrypted);

Example encrypting a secret using Python

Encrypt your secret using pynacl with Python 3.

from base64 import b64encode
from nacl import encoding, public

def encrypt(public_key: str, secret_value: str) -> str:
    """Encrypt a Unicode string using the public key."""
    public_key = public.PublicKey(public_key.encode("utf-8"), encoding.Base64Encoder())
    sealed_box = public.SealedBox(public_key)
    encrypted = sealed_box.encrypt(secret_value.encode("utf-8"))
    return b64encode(encrypted).decode("utf-8")

Example encrypting a secret using C#

Encrypt your secret using the Sodium.Core package.

var secretValue = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("mySecret");
var publicKey = Convert.FromBase64String("2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvvcCU=");

var sealedPublicKeyBox = Sodium.SealedPublicKeyBox.Create(secretValue, publicKey);

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBase64String(sealedPublicKeyBox));

Example encrypting a secret using Ruby

Encrypt your secret using the rbnacl gem.

require "rbnacl"
require "base64"

key = Base64.decode64("+ZYvJDZMHUfBkJdyq5Zm9SKqeuBQ4sj+6sfjlH4CgG0=")
public_key = RbNaCl::PublicKey.new(key)

box = RbNaCl::Boxes::Sealed.from_public_key(public_key)
encrypted_secret = box.encrypt("my_secret")

# Print the base64 encoded secret
puts Base64.strict_encode64(encrypted_secret)

Example input parameters

{
  "encrypted_value": "****************************************************************************************",
  "key_id": "012345678912345678"
}

Response when creating a secret

Status: 201 Created

Response when updating a secret

Status: 204 No Content

Delete a repository secret

Deletes a secret in a repository using the secret name. You must authenticate using an access token with the repo scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets repository permission to use this endpoint.

DELETE /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/secrets/:secret_name

Response

Status: 204 No Content

Get an organization public key

Gets your public key, which you need to encrypt secrets. You need to encrypt a secret before you can create or update secrets. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

GET /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/public-key

Response

Status: 200 OK

{
  "key_id": "012345678912345678",
  "key": "2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvv1234"
}

List organization secrets

Lists all secrets available in an organization without revealing their encrypted values. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

GET /orgs/:org/actions/secrets

Response

Status: 200 OK
Link: <https://api.github.com/resource?page=2>; rel="next",
      <https://api.github.com/resource?page=5>; rel="last"

{
  "total_count": 3,
  "secrets": [
    {
      "name": "GIST_ID",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
      "visibility": "private"
    },
    {
      "name": "DEPLOY_TOKEN",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
      "visibility": "all"
    },
    {
      "name": "GH_TOKEN",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
      "visibility": "selected",
      "selected_repositories_url": "https://api.github.com/orgs/octo-org/actions/secrets/SUPER_SECRET/repositories"
    }
  ]
}

Get an organization secret

Gets a single organization secret without revealing its encrypted value. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

GET /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name

Response

Status: 200 OK

{
  "name": "GH_TOKEN",
  "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
  "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
  "visibility": "selected",
  "selected_repositories_url": "https://api.github.com/orgs/octo-org/actions/secrets/SUPER_SECRET/repositories"
}

Create or update an organization secret

Creates or updates an organization secret with an encrypted value. Encrypt your secret using LibSodium. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

PUT /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`encrypted_value`	`string`	Value for your secret, encrypted with LibSodium using the public key retrieved from the Get an organization public key endpoint.
`key_id`	`string`	ID of the key you used to encrypt the secret.
`visibility`	`string`	Configures the access that repositories have to the organization secret. Can be one of: - `all` - All repositories in an organization can access the secret. - `private` - Private repositories in an organization can access the secret. - `selected` - Only specific repositories can access the secret.
`selected_repository_ids`	`array of strings`	An array of repository ids that can access the organization secret. You can only provide a list of repository ids when the `visibility` is set to `selected`. You can manage the list of selected repositories using the List selected repositories for an organization secret, Set selected repositories for an organization secret, and Remove selected repository from an organization secret endpoints.

Example encrypting a secret using Node.js

Encrypt your secret using the tweetsodium library.

const sodium = require('tweetsodium');

const key = "base64-encoded-public-key";
const value = "plain-text-secret";

// Convert the message and key to Uint8Array's (Buffer implements that interface)
const messageBytes = Buffer.from(value);
const keyBytes = Buffer.from(key, 'base64');

// Encrypt using LibSodium.
const encryptedBytes = sodium.seal(messageBytes, keyBytes);

// Base64 the encrypted secret
const encrypted = Buffer.from(encryptedBytes).toString('base64');

console.log(encrypted);

Example encrypting a secret using Python

Encrypt your secret using pynacl with Python 3.

from base64 import b64encode
from nacl import encoding, public

def encrypt(public_key: str, secret_value: str) -> str:
    """Encrypt a Unicode string using the public key."""
    public_key = public.PublicKey(public_key.encode("utf-8"), encoding.Base64Encoder())
    sealed_box = public.SealedBox(public_key)
    encrypted = sealed_box.encrypt(secret_value.encode("utf-8"))
    return b64encode(encrypted).decode("utf-8")

Example encrypting a secret using C#

Encrypt your secret using the Sodium.Core package.

var secretValue = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("mySecret");
var publicKey = Convert.FromBase64String("2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvvcCU=");

var sealedPublicKeyBox = Sodium.SealedPublicKeyBox.Create(secretValue, publicKey);

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBase64String(sealedPublicKeyBox));

Example encrypting a secret using Ruby

Encrypt your secret using the rbnacl gem.

require "rbnacl"
require "base64"

key = Base64.decode64("+ZYvJDZMHUfBkJdyq5Zm9SKqeuBQ4sj+6sfjlH4CgG0=")
public_key = RbNaCl::PublicKey.new(key)

box = RbNaCl::Boxes::Sealed.from_public_key(public_key)
encrypted_secret = box.encrypt("my_secret")

# Print the base64 encoded secret
puts Base64.strict_encode64(encrypted_secret)

Example input parameters

{
  "encrypted_value": "****************************************************************************************",
  "key_id": "012345678912345678",
  "visibility": "selected",
  "selected_repository_ids": [
    1296269,
    1296280
  ]
}

Response when creating a secret

Status: 201 Created

Response when updating a secret

Status: 204 No Content

List selected repositories for an organization secret

Lists all repositories that have been selected when the visibility for repository access to a secret is set to selected. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

GET /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name/repositories

Response

Status: 200 OK

{
  "total_count": 1,
  "repositories": [
    {
      "id": 1296269,
      "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnkxMjk2MjY5",
      "name": "Hello-World",
      "full_name": "octocat/Hello-World",
      "owner": {
        "login": "octocat",
        "id": 1,
        "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjE=",
        "avatar_url": "https://github.com/images/error/octocat_happy.gif",
        "gravatar_id": "",
        "url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat",
        "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat",
        "followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/followers",
        "following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/following{/other_user}",
        "gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/gists{/gist_id}",
        "starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
        "subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/subscriptions",
        "organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/orgs",
        "repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/repos",
        "events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/events{/privacy}",
        "received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/octocat/received_events",
        "type": "User",
        "site_admin": false
      },
      "private": false,
      "html_url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World",
      "description": "This your first repo!",
      "fork": false,
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World",
      "archive_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/{archive_format}{/ref}",
      "assignees_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/assignees{/user}",
      "blobs_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/blobs{/sha}",
      "branches_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/branches{/branch}",
      "collaborators_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/collaborators{/collaborator}",
      "comments_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/comments{/number}",
      "commits_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/commits{/sha}",
      "compare_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/compare/{base}...{head}",
      "contents_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contents/{+path}",
      "contributors_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/contributors",
      "deployments_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/deployments",
      "downloads_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/downloads",
      "events_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/events",
      "forks_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/forks",
      "git_commits_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/commits{/sha}",
      "git_refs_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/refs{/sha}",
      "git_tags_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/tags{/sha}",
      "git_url": "git:github.com/octocat/Hello-World.git",
      "issue_comment_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/comments{/number}",
      "issue_events_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues/events{/number}",
      "issues_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/issues{/number}",
      "keys_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/keys{/key_id}",
      "labels_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/labels{/name}",
      "languages_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/languages",
      "merges_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/merges",
      "milestones_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/milestones{/number}",
      "notifications_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/notifications{?since,all,participating}",
      "pulls_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/pulls{/number}",
      "releases_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/releases{/id}",
      "ssh_url": "git@github.com:octocat/Hello-World.git",
      "stargazers_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/stargazers",
      "statuses_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/statuses/{sha}",
      "subscribers_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscribers",
      "subscription_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/subscription",
      "tags_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/tags",
      "teams_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/teams",
      "trees_url": "http://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World/git/trees{/sha}"
    }
  ]
}

Set selected repositories for an organization secret

Replaces all repositories for an organization secret when the visibility for repository access is set to selected. The visibility is set when you Create or update an organization secret. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

PUT /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name/repositories

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`selected_repository_ids`	`array of integers`	An array of repository ids that can access the organization secret. You can only provide a list of repository ids when the `visibility` is set to `selected`. You can add and remove individual repositories using the Set selected repositories for an organization secret and Remove selected repository from an organization secret endpoints.

Example

{
  "selected_repository_ids": [
    64780797
  ]
}

Response

Status: 204 No Content

Add selected repository to an organization secret

Adds a repository to an organization secret when the visibility for repository access is set to selected. The visibility is set when you Create or update an organization secret. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

PUT /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name/repositories/:repository_id

Response when repository was added to the selected list

Status: 204 No Content

Response when visibility type is not set to selected

Status: 409 Conflict

Remove selected repository from an organization secret

Removes a repository from an organization secret when the visibility for repository access is set to selected. The visibility is set when you Create or update an organization secret. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

DELETE /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name/repositories/:repository_id

Response when repository was removed from the selected list

Status: 204 No Content

Response when visibility type not set to selected

Status: 409 Conflict

Delete an organization secret

Deletes a secret in an organization using the secret name. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

DELETE /orgs/:org/actions/secrets/:secret_name

Response

Status: 204 No Content