Authenticating GitHub Copilot CLI

About authentication

If you use your own LLM provider API keys (BYOK), GitHub authentication is not required.

Authentication is required for any other GitHub Copilot CLI usage.

When authentication is required, Copilot CLI supports three methods. The method you use depends on whether you are working interactively or in an automated environment.

OAuth device flow: The default and recommended method for interactive use. When you run /login in Copilot CLI, the CLI generates a one-time code and directs you to authenticate in your browser. This is the simplest way to authenticate.
Environment variables: Recommended for CI/CD pipelines, containers, and non-interactive environments. You set a supported token as an environment variable (COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN, GH_TOKEN, or GITHUB_TOKEN), and the CLI uses it automatically without prompting.
GitHub CLI fallback: If you have GitHub CLI (gh) (note: the gh CLI, not copilot) installed and authenticated, Copilot CLI can use its token automatically. This is the lowest priority method and activates only when no other credentials are found.

Once authenticated, Copilot CLI remembers your login and automatically uses the token for all Copilot API requests. You can log in with multiple accounts, and the CLI will remember the last-used account. Token lifetime and expiration depend on how the token was created on your account or organization settings.

Unauthenticated use

If you configure Copilot CLI to use your own LLM provider API keys (BYOK), GitHub authentication is not required. Copilot CLI can connect directly to your configured provider without a GitHub account or token.

However, without GitHub authentication, the following features are not available:

/delegate: Requires Copilot cloud agent, which runs on GitHub's servers
GitHub MCP server: Requires authentication to access GitHub APIs
GitHub Code Search: Requires authentication to query GitHub's search index

You can combine BYOK with GitHub authentication to get the best of both: your preferred model for AI responses, plus access to GitHub-hosted features like /delegate and code search.

Offline mode

If you set the COPILOT_OFFLINE environment variable to true, Copilot CLI runs without contacting GitHub's servers. In offline mode:

No GitHub authentication is attempted.
The CLI only makes network requests to your configured BYOK provider.
Telemetry is fully disabled.

Offline mode is only fully air-gapped if your BYOK provider is local or otherwise within the same isolated environment (for example, a model running on-premises with no external network access). If COPILOT_PROVIDER_BASE_URL points to a remote or internet-accessible endpoint, prompts and code context will still be sent over the network to that provider. Without offline mode, even when using BYOK without GitHub authentication, telemetry is still sent normally.

Supported token types

Token type	Prefix	Supported	Notes
OAuth token (device flow)	`gho_`	Yes	Default method via `copilot login`
Fine-grained PAT	`github_pat_`	Yes	Must include required permissions Copilot Requests
GitHub App user-to-server	`ghu_`	Yes	Via environment variable
Classic PAT	`ghp_`	No	Not supported by Copilot CLI

How Copilot CLI stores credentials

By default, the CLI stores your OAuth token in your operating system's keychain under the service name copilot-cli:

Platform	Keychain
macOS	Keychain Access
Windows	Credential Manager
Linux	libsecret (GNOME Keyring, KWallet)

If the system keychain is unavailable—for example, on a headless Linux server without libsecret installed—the CLI prompts you to store the token in a plaintext configuration file at ~/.copilot/config.json.

When you run a command, Copilot CLI checks for credentials in the following order:

COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
GH_TOKEN environment variable
GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
OAuth token from the system keychain
GitHub CLI (gh auth token) fallback

Note

An environment variable silently overrides a stored OAuth token. If you set GH_TOKEN for another tool, the CLI uses that token instead of the OAuth token from copilot login. To avoid unexpected behavior, unset environment variables you do not intend the CLI to use.
When you configure BYOK provider environment variables (for example, COPILOT_PROVIDER_BASE_URL, COPILOT_PROVIDER_API_KEY), Copilot CLI uses these for AI model requests regardless of your GitHub authentication status. GitHub tokens are only needed for GitHub-hosted features.

Authenticating with OAuth

The OAuth device flow is the default authentication method for interactive use. You can authenticate by running /login from Copilot CLI or copilot login from your terminal.

From Copilot CLI, run /login.
Bash
```
/login
```
```
/login
```
Select the account you want to authenticate with. For GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, enter the hostname of your instance
```
What account do you want to log into?
 1. GitHub.com
 2. GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency (*.ghe.com)
```

The CLI displays a one-time user code and automatically copies it to your clipboard and opens your browser.

Waiting for authorization...
Enter one-time code: 1234-5678 at https://github.com/login/device
Press any key to copy to clipboard and open browser...

Navigate to the verification URL at https://github.com/login/device if your browser did not open automatically.
Paste the one-time code in the field on the page.
If your organization uses SAML SSO, click Authorize next to each organization you want to grant access to.
Review the requested permissions and click Authorize GitHub Copilot CLI.
Return to your terminal. The CLI displays a success message when authentication is complete.
```
Signed in successfully as Octocat. You can now use Copilot.
```

From the terminal, run copilot login. If you are using GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, pass the hostname of your instance.
Bash
```
copilot login
```
```
copilot login
```
For GitHub Enterprise Cloud:
Bash
```
copilot login --host HOSTNAME
```
```
copilot login --host HOSTNAME
```
The CLI displays a one-time user code and automatically copies it to your clipboard and opens your browser.
```
To authenticate, visit https://github.com/login/device and enter code 1234-5678.
```
Navigate to the verification URL at https://github.com/login/device if your browser did not open automatically.
Paste the one-time code in the field on the page.
If your organization uses SAML SSO, click Authorize next to each organization you want to grant access to.
Review the requested permissions and click Authorize GitHub Copilot CLI.
Return to your terminal. The CLI displays a success message when authentication is complete.
```
Signed in successfully as Octocat.
```

Authenticating with environment variables

For non-interactive environments, you can authenticate by setting an environment variable with a supported token. This is ideal for CI/CD pipelines, containers, or headless servers.

Visit Fine-grained personal access tokens.
Under "Permissions," click Add permissions and select Copilot Requests.
Click Generate token.
Export the token in your terminal or environment configuration. Use the COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN, GH_TOKEN, or GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable (in order of precedence).

Authenticating with GitHub CLI

If you have GitHub CLI installed and authenticated, Copilot CLI can use its token as a fallback. This method has the lowest priority and activates only when no environment variables are set and no stored token is found.

Verify that GitHub CLI is authenticated.
Bash
```
gh auth status
```
```
gh auth status
```
If you use GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, verify the correct hostname is authenticated.
Bash
```
gh auth status --hostname HOSTNAME
```
```
gh auth status --hostname HOSTNAME
```
Run copilot. The Copilot CLI uses the GitHub CLI token automatically.
Run /user to verify your authenticated account in the CLI.

Switching between accounts

Copilot CLI supports multiple accounts. You can list available accounts and switch between them from within the CLI. To list available accounts, run /user list from the Copilot CLI prompt. To switch to a different account, type /user switch on the prompt.

To add another account, run copilot login from a new terminal session, or run the login command from within the CLI and authorize with the other account.

Signing out and removing credentials

To sign out, type /logout at the Copilot CLI prompt. This removes the locally stored token but does not revoke it on GitHub.

To revoke the OAuth app authorization on GitHub and prevent it from being used elsewhere, follow these steps.

Navigate to Settings > Applications > Authorized OAuth Apps.
Navigate to your settings page:
1. In the upper-right corner of any page on GitHub, click your profile picture.
2. Click Settings.
In the left sidebar, click Applications.
Under Authorized OAuth Apps, click next to GitHub CLI to expand the menu and select Revoke.

Who can use this feature?

In this article