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---
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 or SSH. 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!"
```
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