--- type: concepts, howto stage: Manage group: Access info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments --- # Personal access tokens > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/3749) in GitLab 8.8. > - [Notifications about expiring tokens](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/3649) added in GitLab 12.6. > - [Notifications about expired tokens](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/214721) added in GitLab 13.3. > - [Token lifetime limits](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/3649) added in [GitLab Ultimate](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 12.6. If you're unable to use [OAuth2](../../api/oauth2.md), you can use a personal access token to authenticate with the [GitLab API](../../api/README.md#personalproject-access-tokens). You can also use personal access tokens with Git to authenticate over HTTP. Personal access tokens are required when [Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)](account/two_factor_authentication.md) is enabled. In both cases, you can authenticate with a token in place of your password. Personal access tokens expire on the date you define, at midnight UTC. - GitLab runs a check at 01:00 AM UTC every day to identify personal access tokens that expire in under seven days. The owners of these tokens are notified by email. - GitLab runs a check at 02:00 AM UTC every day to identify personal access tokens that expired on the current date. The owners of these tokens are notified by email. - In GitLab Ultimate, administrators may [limit the lifetime of personal access tokens](../admin_area/settings/account_and_limit_settings.md#limiting-lifetime-of-personal-access-tokens). - In GitLab Ultimate, administrators may [toggle enforcement of personal access token expiry](../admin_area/settings/account_and_limit_settings.md#optional-enforcement-of-personal-access-token-expiry). For examples of how you can use a personal access token to authenticate with the API, see the following section from our [API Docs](../../api/README.md#personalproject-access-tokens). GitLab also offers [impersonation tokens](../../api/README.md#impersonation-tokens) which are created by administrators via the API. They're a great fit for automated authentication as a specific user. ## Creating a personal access token You can create as many personal access tokens as you like from your GitLab profile. 1. Sign in to GitLab. 1. In the upper-right corner, click your avatar and select **Settings**. 1. On the **User Settings** menu, select **Access Tokens**. 1. Choose a name and optional expiry date for the token. 1. Choose the [desired scopes](#limiting-scopes-of-a-personal-access-token). 1. Click the **Create personal access token** button. 1. Save the personal access token somewhere safe. If you navigate away or refresh your page, and you did not save the token, you must create a new one. ### Revoking a personal access token At any time, you can revoke any personal access token by clicking the respective **Revoke** button under the **Active Personal Access Token** area. ### Token activity You can see when a token was last used from the **Personal Access Tokens** page. Updates to the token usage is fixed at once per 24 hours. Requests to [API resources](../../api/api_resources.md) and the [GraphQL API](../../api/graphql/index.md) update a token's usage. ## Limiting scopes of a personal access token Personal access tokens can be created with one or more scopes that allow various actions that a given token can perform. The available scopes are depicted in the following table. | Scope | Introduced in | Description | | ------------------ | ------------- | ----------- | | `read_user` | [GitLab 8.15](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/5951) | Allows access to the read-only endpoints under `/users`. Essentially, any of the `GET` requests in the [Users API](../../api/users.md) are allowed. | | `api` | [GitLab 8.15](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/5951) | Grants complete read/write access to the API, including all groups and projects, the container registry, and the package registry. | | `read_api` | [GitLab 12.10](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/28944) | Grants read access to the API, including all groups and projects, the container registry, and the package registry. | | `read_registry` | [GitLab 9.3](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/11845) | Allows to read (pull) [container registry](../packages/container_registry/index.md) images if a project is private and authorization is required. | | `write_registry` | [GitLab 12.10](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/28958) | Allows to write (push) [container registry](../packages/container_registry/index.md) images if a project is private and authorization is required. | | `sudo` | [GitLab 10.2](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/14838) | Allows performing API actions as any user in the system (if the authenticated user is an administrator). | | `read_repository` | [GitLab 10.7](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/17894) | Allows read-only access (pull) to the repository through `git clone`. | | `write_repository` | [GitLab 11.11](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/26021) | Allows read-write access (pull, push) to the repository through `git clone`. Required for accessing Git repositories over HTTP when 2FA is enabled. | ## Programmatically creating a personal access token You can programmatically create a predetermined personal access token for use in automation or tests. You need sufficient access to run a [Rails console session](../../administration/operations/rails_console.md#starting-a-rails-console-session) for your GitLab instance. To create a token belonging to a user with username `automation-bot`, run the following in the Rails console (`sudo gitlab-rails console`): ```ruby user = User.find_by_username('automation-bot') token = user.personal_access_tokens.create(scopes: [:read_user, :read_repository], name: 'Automation token') token.set_token('token-string-here123') token.save! ``` This can be shortened into a single-line shell command using the [Rails runner](../../administration/troubleshooting/debug.md#using-the-rails-runner): ```shell sudo gitlab-rails runner "token = User.find_by_username('automation-bot').personal_access_tokens.create(scopes: [:read_user, :read_repository], name: 'Automation token'); token.set_token('token-string-here123'); token.save!" ``` NOTE: The token string must be 20 characters in length to be recognized as a valid personal access token. The list of valid scopes and what they do can be found [in the source code](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/auth.rb). ## Programmatically revoking a personal access token You can programmatically revoke a personal access token. You need sufficient access to run a [Rails console session](../../administration/operations/rails_console.md#starting-a-rails-console-session) for your GitLab instance. To revoke a known token `token-string-here123`, run the following in the Rails console (`sudo gitlab-rails console`): ```ruby token = PersonalAccessToken.find_by_token('token-string-here123') token.revoke! ``` This can be shorted into a single-line shell command using the [Rails runner](../../administration/troubleshooting/debug.md#using-the-rails-runner): ```shell sudo gitlab-rails runner "PersonalAccessToken.find_by_token('token-string-here123').revoke!" ```