Allow for authentication via Auth Token for programmatic use

[netgfx]

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

The tool should be able to function autonomously without any user interaction

Proposed solution

Provide a way to allow the tool to be invoked with an Auth Token so that it can be added on pipelines or docker images that run autonomously without any user input.

Example prompts or workflows

/login <AUTH_TOKEN>

Additional context

No response

[avanderhoorn]

Thanks for the idea... we can look at it. In the mean time you have a few options for authenticating with a PAT (note I haven't testing but should work):

Option 1: Direct Environment Variable (Simplest)

export GH_TOKEN="your_personal_access_token"
copilot

Important: The token must be a fine-grained PAT (starts with github_pat_) or an OAuth token. I believe classic PATs (starting with ghp_) are explicitly rejected by the CLI for security reasons (if this is wrong I will update the comment next week).

Option 2: Via GitHub CLI

echo "your_personal_access_token" | gh auth login --with-token
copilot

The Copilot CLI will automatically detect and use the GitHub CLI's authentication. Note that the same token type restrictions apply - classic PATs won't work here either.

Troubleshooting

If your PAT isn't working:

• Verify it's a fine-grained PAT: echo $GH_TOKEN | cut -c1-11 should show github_pat_
• Test it directly: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $GH_TOKEN" https://api.github.com/user
• Check debug logs: copilot --log-level debug

The CLI validates tokens on startup by fetching your GitHub username, so you'll know immediately if authentication is successful.

[netgfx]

Hello, thanks for the prompt response. I did try those steps with a fine grained token, and it seems to be working.

Specifically, it needs user permissions: Copilot Requests

[avanderhoorn]

@netgfx Thanks for confirming!