OAuth User Authentication Skill

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.

Agent Skills: OAuth User Authentication

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files