[FEAT]: Allow personal access tokens to be used with gh-copilot #116

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1. andyfeller

   added

   enhancementNew feature or requestNew feature or request

   on Jan 7, 2025
2. yermulnik commented on Feb 13, 2025

   

   yermulnik

   on Feb 13, 2025

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   Just to bump this issue as of https://github.blog/changelog/2025-02-12-github-copilot-chat-and-github-copilot-extension-now-available-for-free-on-github-mobile-and-github-cli/ announcement: ain't gh-copilot should be capable of utilizing https://github.com/cli/go-gh (a collection of Go modules to make authoring GitHub CLI extensions easier) for auth to bring smoother experience to users? 🤔

   @andyfeller By any chance is this issue on a development roadmap please? 🙏🏻

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Václav Pokluda

   👀React with 👀1Reacted by Andy Feller
3. andyfeller commented on Feb 14, 2025

   

   andyfeller

   on Feb 14, 2025

   ContributorAuthor

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   Just to bump this issue as of https://github.blog/changelog/2025-02-12-github-copilot-chat-and-github-copilot-extension-now-available-for-free-on-github-mobile-and-github-cli/ announcement: ain't gh-copilot should be capable of utilizing https://github.com/cli/go-gh (a collection of Go modules to make authoring GitHub CLI extensions easier) for auth to bring smoother experience to users? 🤔

   @andyfeller By any chance is this issue on a development roadmap please? 🙏🏻

   Thanks for the bump, @yermulnik ❤

   The good news is gh-copilot has used cli/go-gh since its inception! ✊ The bad news is that PAT restriction is a larger Copilot authentication challenge beyond gh-copilot. That said, let me see about following up internally to see if there's any movement there.

   cc @RyanHecht
4. yermulnik commented on Feb 14, 2025

   

   yermulnik

   on Feb 14, 2025

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   Ah, I see. Apologies my newbie mix up of the things =)
   And thanks for keeping this request rolling 👍🏻

   ❤️React with ❤️1Reacted by Andy Feller
5. ascheman commented on Mar 14, 2025

   

   ascheman

   on Mar 14, 2025

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   I have run into the very same issue and would even consider the current behaviour as bug for two reasons

   • The error message does not tell you that the copilot plugin is using the PAT from the environment but cannot authenticate with it (-> better error message)
   • The plugin should simply ignore the PAT if it cannot use it for authentication (at most issue a warning).

   However, in the end, I'd be happy with both solutions, i.e., if either authentication via PAT would be possible, or if the PAT would be ignored by the plugin (falling back to the next level of authentication).

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Nathaniel Palmer
6. magnusriga commented on Apr 23, 2025

   

   magnusriga

   on Apr 23, 2025

   Last edited by magnusriga

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   @andyfeller You asked in some other thread why people use a PAT in environment variables for gh. I just wanted to note that we add PAT to shell environment variable GH_TOKEN, because of a Neovim plugin that uses gh under the hood. Saves us having to authenticate with a browser, each time nvim is opened.

   Is there any way to keep that variable intact in the environment, and still access gh copilot? Perhaps setting another environment variable that takes precedence?

   Thanks for the help.
7. jmarcon commented on May 7, 2025

   

   jmarcon

   on May 7, 2025

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   What I did to solve my problema in my use case was:

   • unset GITHUB_TOKEN and GH_TOKEN
   • authenticated with 'gh auth login --web -h github.com'
   • got the token with 'gh auth token -h githbu.com' (the token will start with "gho_")
   • set the GH_TOKEN with this value. (I did put this in my startup script - .zshrc/.bashrc and $PROFILE for PowerShell)
   • GH_TOKEN has precedence over GITHUB_TOKEN, so both can be set and the gh cli will use the GH_TOKEN.
   • Now I can use the cli and keep my GITHUB_TOKEN for use in other scenarios.

   I don't know if it is possible to use GITHUB_TOKEN with neovim's plugins.

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Nathaniel Palmer

   ❤️React with ❤️2Reacted by Samuel Lindskog and thibaut-lo