Create a new authorization

Deprecation Notice: GitHub will discontinue the OAuth Authorizations API, which is used by integrations to create personal access tokens and OAuth tokens, and you must now create these tokens using our web application flow. The OAuth Authorizations API will be removed on November, 13, 2020. For more information, including scheduled brownouts, see the blog post.

Warning: Apps must use the web application flow to obtain OAuth tokens that work with GitHub SAML organizations. OAuth tokens created using the Authorizations API will be unable to access GitHub SAML organizations. For more information, see the blog post.

Creates OAuth tokens using Basic Authentication. If you have two-factor authentication setup, Basic Authentication for this endpoint requires that you use a one-time password (OTP) and your username and password instead of tokens. For more information, see "Working with two-factor authentication."

To create tokens for a particular OAuth application using this endpoint, you must authenticate as the user you want to create an authorization for and provide the app's client ID and secret, found on your OAuth application's settings page. If your OAuth application intends to create multiple tokens for one user, use fingerprint to differentiate between them.

You can also create tokens on GitHub from the personal access tokens settings page. Read more about these tokens in the GitHub Help documentation.

Organizations that enforce SAML SSO require personal access tokens to be whitelisted. Read more about whitelisting tokens in the GitHub Help documentation.

POST /authorizations

Parameters

Name Type Description
scopes array A list of scopes that this authorization is in.
note string Required. A note to remind you what the OAuth token is for. Tokens not associated with a specific OAuth application (i.e. personal access tokens) must have a unique note.
note_url string A URL to remind you what app the OAuth token is for.
client_id string The 20 character OAuth app client key for which to create the token.
client_secret string The 40 character OAuth app client secret for which to create the token.
fingerprint string A unique string to distinguish an authorization from others created for the same client ID and user. 
{
  "scopes": [
    "public_repo"
  ],
  "note": "admin script"
}

Response

Status: 201 Created
Location: https://api.github.com/authorizations/1

{
  "id": 1,
  "url": "https://api.github.com/authorizations/1",
  "scopes": [
    "public_repo"
  ],
  "token": "abcdefgh12345678",
  "token_last_eight": "12345678",
  "hashed_token": "25f94a2a5c7fbaf499c665bc73d67c1c87e496da8985131633ee0a95819db2e8",
  "app": {
    "url": "http://my-github-app.com",
    "name": "my github app",
    "client_id": "abcde12345fghij67890"
  },
  "note": "optional note",
  "note_url": "http://optional/note/url",
  "updated_at": "2011-09-06T20:39:23Z",
  "created_at": "2011-09-06T17:26:27Z",
  "fingerprint": ""
}