Authenticating as a App

You can authenticate as a App in order to generate an installation access token or manage your app.

In this article

About authentication as a App

You must authenticate as a App in order to make REST API requests as the application. For example, if you want to use the API to generate an installation access token for accessing organization resources, list installations across organizations for your app, or suspend an app installation, you must authenticate as an app.

If a REST API endpoint requires you to authenticate as an app, the documentation for that endpoint will indicate that you must use a JWT to access the endpoint. The GraphQL API does not support any queries or mutations that require you to authenticate as an app.

Using a JSON Web Token (JWT) to authenticate as a App

  1. Generate a JSON Web Token (JWT) for your app. For more information, see Generating a JSON Web Token (JWT) for a App.

  2. Include the JWT in the Authorization header of your request. In the following example, replace YOUR_JWT with your JWT.

    curl --request GET \
--url "https://api..com/app/installations" \
--header "Accept: application/vnd.+json" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT" \
--header "X--Api-Version: 2022-11-28"

Using the Octokit.js SDK to authenticate as a App

You can use 's Octokit.js SDK to authenticate as a App. One advantage of using the SDK to authenticate is that you do not need to generate a JSON web token (JWT) yourself. Additionally, the SDK will take care of regenerating the JWT when it expires.

Note

You must install and import octokit in order to use the Octokit.js library. The following example uses import statements in accordance with ES6. For more information about different installation and import methods, see Usage in the octokit/octokit repository.

  1. Get the ID of your app. You can find your app's ID on the settings page for your App. For more information about navigating to the settings page for your App, see Modifying a App registration.

  2. Generate a private key. For more information, see Managing private keys for Apps.

  3. Import App from octokit.

    JavaScript
    import { App } from "octokit";

  4. Create a new instance of App. In the following example, replace APP_ID with a reference to your app's ID. Replace PRIVATE_KEY with a reference to the value of your app's private key.

    JavaScript
     const app = new App({
  appId: APP_ID,
  privateKey: PRIVATE_KEY,
});

  5. Use an octokit method to make a request to a REST API endpoint that requires a JWT. For example:

    JavaScript
    await app.octokit.request("/app")