github-auth

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Authenticate to GitHub and fix auth problems — the shared primitive every other github-* skill relies on. Use this BEFORE any create/query when GitHub auth is uncertain, and whenever a GitHub API call misbehaves: a call returns 401 or 403, "gh not logged in" / token missing, results come back empty or from the wrong repo. Covers the two supported methods (gh CLI via `gh auth token`, or GH_TOKEN env var), a one-line PowerShell verify snippet against the repo API, and a 401/403/wrong-repo troubleshooting table. Invoke when someone says "I'm getting a 401 from GitHub", "github-create-issues says no token", "gh auth failing", or "check my GitHub login before we run".

10installs

Sourcethodsaphonsonthiphin/workflow-daily-work

Added on2026-08-29

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add thodsaphonsonthiphin/workflow-daily-work github-auth

SKILL.md Content

View Translation Comparison →

github-auth

Authenticate to GitHub and diagnose auth failures. This is a verify and troubleshoot skill — the bundled

create_github_issues.py

already implements both auth methods, so you are not writing new auth code here. You are confirming a token works and the owner/repo point where the user expects, then unblocking the create/query skills ([[github-create-issues]], [[findings-to-github-issues]]).

GitHub accepts two credential styles. Pick A unless the user has a reason to use a PAT.

Method A — gh CLI (recommended)

Why preferred: no long-lived secret to store, and it rides the user's existing

gh

session.

gh auth token

returns a ready-to-use token.

powershell

gh auth login          # one-time setup
$token = gh auth token # get the current token

Use it as a bearer header:

Authorization: Bearer <token>

.

Method B — Personal Access Token (PAT)

Use when

gh

CLI isn't available (e.g. a service context) or the user has an existing PAT. Scope must include Issues (Read & Write) on the target repo. Classic PAT or fine-grained PAT both work.

powershell

$env:GH_TOKEN = "<your-pat>"

create_github_issues.py

reads

GH_TOKEN

automatically; if unset it shells out to

gh auth token

. So setting (or unsetting)

GH_TOKEN

is how you switch methods.

Set target repo

powershell

$env:GH_OWNER = "Cartagena365"   # org or user name — NOT a URL
$env:GH_REPO  = "GlassHull"     # repo name — NOT a URL

Verify the credential works

powershell

gh api "repos/$env:GH_OWNER/$env:GH_REPO" --jq '.full_name'

A clean result (e.g.

Cartagena365/GlassHull

) proves the token is valid AND the repo exists and is reachable. Anything else, see the troubleshooting table below.

For a broader prereq sweep (gh CLI, Python, requests, openpyxl, env vars) run the bundled checker — it is read-only and changes nothing:

powershell

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/setup_check_github.ps1"

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
HTTP 401 Unauthorized	No token, or it expired	`gh auth login` , then re-run `gh auth token` . For PAT: check it hasn't expired or been revoked.
HTTP 403 Forbidden	Token is valid but lacks rights	PAT scope missing Issues (Read & Write) — reissue with that scope. For fine-grained PAT: confirm the repo is included in the token's access list.
repo not found / 404	Wrong owner/repo name, or private repo the token can't see	Check `GH_OWNER` / `GH_REPO` spelling. For private repos: confirm the token/PAT has repo access.
"gh: command not found"	gh CLI not installed	Install from https://cli.github.com, then `gh auth login` . Or fall back to Method B ( `GH_TOKEN` ).
200 but wrong repo	Env vars point at the wrong place	Re-check `GH_OWNER` / `GH_REPO` — exact casing, exact repo name.

Hand-off

Once

gh api repos/...

returns the full_name cleanly, auth is good — continue with [[github-create-issues]] or [[findings-to-github-issues]]. Leave

GH_OWNER

/

GH_REPO

set in the shell; they carry straight into all downstream skills.

github-auth

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

github-auth

Method A — gh CLI (recommended)

Method B — Personal Access Token (PAT)

Set target repo

Verify the credential works

Troubleshooting

Hand-off