Creating a personal access token

You should create a personal access token to use in place of a password with the command line or with the API.

Personal access tokens (PATs) are an alternative to using passwords for authentication to GitHub when using the GitHub API or the command line.

If you want to use a PAT to access resources owned by an organization that uses SAML SSO, you must authorize the PAT. For more information, see "About authentication with SAML single sign-on" and "Authorizing a personal access token for use with SAML single sign-on."

As a security precaution, GitHub automatically removes personal access tokens that haven't been used in a year.

In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings. 

In the left sidebar, click Developer settings. 

 In the left sidebar, click Personal access tokens.