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Github Auth

GitHub auth setup: HTTPS tokens, SSH keys, gh CLI login

GitHubAuthenticationGitgh-cliSSHSetupBundledHermes skill
Last registry verification2026-08-18v1.1.0Hermes Agent
Plain meaning

What does it add to Hermes?

GitHub auth setup: HTTPS tokens, SSH keys, gh CLI login

Github Auth is a skill related to software development and repositories. It helps the agent understand code or work with a software project instead of only giving generic advice.

This plain-language explanation is based on the publisher description. The original text remains visible for verification.

Use it when

Use it when your goal in software development and repositories is clear and you can limit it to the data and actions it actually needs.

Skip it when

Do not add it merely to experiment when Hermes already has a simpler path, or when you cannot review its source and permissions.

Who is it for?

Best for users who want a repeatable way of working inside Hermes.

Safe first test

Try it on a disposable repository with read-only access and ask for a summary of one file with its path.

Original publisher description

GitHub auth setup: HTTPS tokens, SSH keys, gh CLI login

✓
Data source

This entry was indexed from Hermes Bundled Skills. Our explanation interprets the type and domain without inventing a capability not present upstream.

!
Security review

The source is official or editorially reviewed, but you still need to review permissions and version compatibility.

Safe setup path

Inspect, install, then test.

  1. 01
    Open the source

    Match the publisher, license, and description to your need. Check the real update history.

  2. 02
    Review permissions and secrets

    Never paste a secret value into this site. Use environment-variable names and grant the smallest scope.

  3. 03
    Copy setup only after review

    The controls below copy text. They do not execute commands on your device.

  4. 04
    Test with a non-sensitive task

    Inspect the visible tools, then exclude write or delete tools you do not need.

Setup method

Already installed with Hermes.

This skill ships with Hermes and loads when the agent decides it is relevant. There is nothing to install; read the definition below so you know what it will do.

Open the official page ↗
The full skill definition

Exactly what Hermes loads when this skill runs.

Reproduced from the official documentation. Read it before enabling the skill: this text becomes the agent's instructions.

GitHub auth setup: HTTPS tokens, SSH keys, gh CLI login.

Skill metadata

A lookup table. Do not read it all; find the row that applies to you.

SourceBundled (installed by default)
Pathskills/github/github-auth
Version1.1.0
AuthorHermes Agent
LicenseMIT
Platformslinux, macos, windows
TagsGitHub, Authentication, Git, gh-cli, SSH, Setup
Related skillsgithub-pr-workflow, github-code-review, github-issues, github-repo-management

Reference: full SKILL.md

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

This skill sets up authentication so the agent can work with GitHub repositories, PRs, issues, and CI. It covers two paths:

  • git (always available) — uses HTTPS personal access tokens or SSH keys
  • gh CLI (if installed) — richer GitHub API access with a simpler auth flow

Detection Flow

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

When a user asks you to work with GitHub, run this check first:

Shell7 lines
# Check what's available
git --version
gh --version 2>/dev/null || echo "gh not installed"

# Check if already authenticated
gh auth status 2>/dev/null || echo "gh not authenticated"
git config --global credential.helper 2>/dev/null || echo "no git credential helper"

Decision tree:

  1. If gh auth status shows authenticated → you're good, use gh for everything
  2. If gh is installed but not authenticated → use "gh auth" method below
  3. If gh is not installed → use "git-only" method below (no sudo needed)

---

Method 1: Git-Only Authentication (No gh, No sudo)

Explains the idea itself. Read it slowly; the later sections build on it.

This works on any machine with git installed. No root access needed.

This is the most portable method — works everywhere, no SSH config needed.

Step 1: Create a personal access token

Tell the user to go to: https://github.com/settings/tokens

  • Click "Generate new token (classic)"
  • Give it a name like "hermes-agent"
  • Select scopes:
  • repo (full repository access — read, write, push, PRs)
  • workflow (trigger and manage GitHub Actions)
  • read:org (if working with organization repos)
  • Set expiration (90 days is a good default)
  • Copy the token — it won't be shown again

Step 2: Configure git to store the token

Shell8 lines
# Set up the credential helper to cache credentials
# "store" saves to ~/.git-credentials in plaintext (simple, persistent)
git config --global credential.helper store

# Now do a test operation that triggers auth — git will prompt for credentials
# Username: <their-github-username>
# Password: <paste the personal access token, NOT their GitHub password>
git ls-remote https://github.com/<their-username>/<any-repo>.git

After entering credentials once, they're saved and reused for all future operations.

Alternative: cache helper (credentials expire from memory)

Shell2 lines
# Cache in memory for 8 hours (28800 seconds) instead of saving to disk
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=28800'

Alternative: set the token directly in the remote URL (per-repo)

Shell2 lines
# Embed token in the remote URL (avoids credential prompts entirely)
git remote set-url origin https://<username>:<token>@github.com/<owner>/<repo>.git

Step 3: Configure git identity

Shell3 lines
# Required for commits — set name and email
git config --global user.name "Their Name"
git config --global user.email "their-email@example.com"

Step 4: Verify

Shell6 lines
# Test push access (this should work without any prompts now)
git ls-remote https://github.com/<their-username>/<any-repo>.git

# Verify identity
git config --global user.name
git config --global user.email

Option B: SSH Key Authentication

Good for users who prefer SSH or already have keys set up.

Step 1: Check for existing SSH keys

Shell1 line
ls -la ~/.ssh/id_*.pub 2>/dev/null || echo "No SSH keys found"

Step 2: Generate a key if needed

Shell5 lines
# Generate an ed25519 key (modern, secure, fast)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "their-email@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -N ""

# Display the public key for them to add to GitHub
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Tell the user to add the public key at: https://github.com/settings/keys

  • Click "New SSH key"
  • Paste the public key content
  • Give it a title like "hermes-agent-&lt;machine-name>"

Step 3: Test the connection

Shell2 lines
ssh -T git@github.com
# Expected: "Hi <username>! You've successfully authenticated..."

Step 4: Configure git to use SSH for GitHub

Shell2 lines
# Rewrite HTTPS GitHub URLs to SSH automatically
git config --global url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/"

Step 5: Configure git identity

Shell2 lines
git config --global user.name "Their Name"
git config --global user.email "their-email@example.com"

---

Method 2: gh CLI Authentication

Settings you configure once. Change one at a time so you can see what each does. Set THEIR_TOKEN in your environment, not in the chat.

If gh is installed, it handles both API access and git credentials in one step.

Interactive Browser Login (Desktop)

Shell4 lines
gh auth login
# Select: GitHub.com
# Select: HTTPS
# Authenticate via browser

Token-Based Login (Headless / SSH Servers)

Shell4 lines
echo "<THEIR_TOKEN>" | gh auth login --with-token

# Set up git credentials through gh
gh auth setup-git

Verify

Shell1 line
gh auth status

---

Using the GitHub API Without gh

Settings you configure once. Change one at a time so you can see what each does. Set GITHUB_TOKEN, HERMES_HOME in your environment, not in the chat.

When gh is not available, you can still access the full GitHub API using curl with a personal access token. This is how the other GitHub skills implement their fallbacks.

Setting the Token for API Calls

Shell6 lines
# Option 1: Export as env var (preferred — keeps it out of commands)
export GITHUB_TOKEN="<token>"

# Then use in curl calls:
curl -s -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/user

Extracting the Token from Git Credentials

If git credentials are already configured (via credential.helper store), the token can be extracted:

Shell2 lines
# Read from git credential store
uv run python3 "${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/skills/github/github-auth/scripts/git-credential-token.py"

Helper: Detect Auth Method

Use this pattern at the start of any GitHub workflow:

Shell15 lines
# Try gh first, fall back to git + curl
if command -v gh &>/dev/null && gh auth status &>/dev/null; then
  echo "AUTH_METHOD=gh"
elif [ -n "$GITHUB_TOKEN" ]; then
  echo "AUTH_METHOD=curl"
elif _hermes_env="${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/.env"; [ -f "$_hermes_env" ] && grep -q "^GITHUB_TOKEN=" "$_hermes_env"; then
  export GITHUB_TOKEN=$(grep "^GITHUB_TOKEN=" "$_hermes_env" | head -1 | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d '\n\r')
  echo "AUTH_METHOD=curl"
elif grep -q "github.com" ~/.git-credentials 2>/dev/null; then
  export GITHUB_TOKEN=$(uv run python3 "${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/skills/github/github-auth/scripts/git-credential-token.py")
  echo "AUTH_METHOD=curl"
else
  echo "AUTH_METHOD=none"
  echo "Need to set up authentication first"
fi

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Troubleshooting

A troubleshooting section. Find the symptom that matches yours rather than reading it end to end.

ProblemSolution
git push asks for passwordGitHub disabled password auth. Use a personal access token as the password, or switch to SSH
remote: Permission to X deniedToken may lack repo scope — regenerate with correct scopes
fatal: Authentication failedCached credentials may be stale — run git credential reject then re-authenticate
ssh: connect to host github.com port 22: Connection refusedTry SSH over HTTPS port: add Host github.com with Port 443 and Hostname ssh.github.com to ~/.ssh/config
Credentials not persistingCheck git config --global credential.helper — must be store or cache
Multiple GitHub accountsUse SSH with different keys per host alias in ~/.ssh/config, or per-repo credential URLs
gh: command not found + no sudoUse git-only Method 1 above — no installation needed