OAuth User Authentication

When to Use This Skill

OAuth authentication provides user-context access for GitHub Apps. It enables:

User attribution - Actions appear as the user in audit logs
User permissions - Respect individual user access levels
Personal repository access - Access to user's private repositories
Interactive applications - Web apps and CLI tools requiring user authorization
Long-lived sessions - Tokens valid until revoked

OAuth Limitations

Not suitable for automated workflows (no user present)

Requires user consent for each installation

Rate limits apply per user (5,000/hour)

More complex setup than installation tokens

Implementation

See the full implementation guide in the source documentation.

Techniques

OAuth vs Other Methods

flowchart TD
    A["Need user context?"] --> B{"Who initiates<br/>the action?"}

    B -->|"Human user<br/>(web app, CLI)"| C["Use OAuth"]
    B -->|"Automated process<br/>(GitHub Actions)"| D["Use Installation Token"]

    C --> C1["User attribution required"]
    C --> C2["Personal repos access"]
    C --> C3["User-level permissions"]

    D --> D1["No user present"]
    D --> D2["Organization repos"]
    D --> D3["App-level permissions"]

    %% Ghostty Hardcore Theme
    style A fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:2px,color:#ccccc7
    style B fill:#fd971e,stroke:#e6db74,stroke-width:2px,color:#1b1d1e
    style C fill:#a7e22e,stroke:#bded5f,stroke-width:2px,color:#1b1d1e
    style D fill:#f92572,stroke:#ff669d,stroke-width:2px,color:#1b1d1e
    style C1 fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:1px,color:#ccccc7
    style C2 fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:1px,color:#ccccc7
    style C3 fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:1px,color:#ccccc7
    style D1 fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:1px,color:#ccccc7
    style D2 fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:1px,color:#ccccc7
    style D3 fill:#515354,stroke:#ccccc7,stroke-width:1px,color:#ccccc7

See reference.md for additional techniques and detailed examples.

Comparison

See examples.md for detailed code examples.

Examples

See examples.md for code examples.

Full Reference

See reference.md for complete documentation.

oauth-user-authentication