go-githubauth

go-githubauth is a Go package that provides utilities for GitHub authentication, including generating and using GitHub App tokens and installation tokens.

v1.3.0 introduces Go generics support for unified authentication with both numeric App IDs and alphanumeric Client IDs in a single, type-safe API.

Features

go-githubauth package provides implementations of the TokenSource interface from the golang.org/x/oauth2 package. This interface has a single method, Token, which returns an *oauth2.Token.

v1.3.0 Features

• 🔥 Go Generics Support: Single NewApplicationTokenSource function supports both int64 App IDs and string Client IDs
• 🛡️ Type Safety: Compile-time verification of identifier types through generic constraints
• ⚡ Type Inference: Automatic type detection - no need to specify generic parameters explicitly
• 📖 Enhanced Documentation: Official GitHub API references and comprehensive JWT details

Core Capabilities

• Generate GitHub Application JWT Generating a jwt for a github app
• Obtain GitHub App installation tokens Authenticating as a GitHub App
• RS256-signed JWTs with proper clock drift protection
• Support for both legacy App IDs and modern Client IDs (recommended by GitHub)

Requirements

• This package is designed to be used with the golang.org/x/oauth2 package

Installation

To use go-githubauth in your project, you need to have Go installed. You can get the package via:

go get -u github.com/jferrl/go-githubauth

Usage

Usage with go-github and oauth2

Client ID (Recommended)

package main

import (
 "context"
 "fmt"
 "os"
 "strconv"

 "github.com/google/go-github/v73/github"
 "github.com/jferrl/go-githubauth"
 "golang.org/x/oauth2"
)

func main() {
 privateKey := []byte(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY"))
 clientID := os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_CLIENT_ID") // e.g., "Iv1.1234567890abcdef"
 installationID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("GITHUB_INSTALLATION_ID"), 10, 64)

 // Go automatically infers the type as string for Client ID
 appTokenSource, err := githubauth.NewApplicationTokenSource(clientID, privateKey)
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating application token source:", err)
  return
 }

 installationTokenSource := githubauth.NewInstallationTokenSource(installationID, appTokenSource)

 // oauth2.NewClient creates a new http.Client that adds an Authorization header with the token
 httpClient := oauth2.NewClient(context.Background(), installationTokenSource)
 githubClient := github.NewClient(httpClient)

 _, _, err = githubClient.PullRequests.CreateComment(context.Background(), "owner", "repo", 1, &github.PullRequestComment{
  Body: github.String("Awesome comment!"),
 })
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating comment:", err)
  return
 }
}

App ID (Legacy)

package main

import (
 "context"
 "fmt"
 "os"
 "strconv"

 "github.com/google/go-github/v73/github"
 "github.com/jferrl/go-githubauth"
 "golang.org/x/oauth2"
)

func main() {
 privateKey := []byte(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY"))
 appID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_ID"), 10, 64)
 installationID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("GITHUB_INSTALLATION_ID"), 10, 64)

 // Explicitly cast to int64 for App ID - Go automatically infers the type
 appTokenSource, err := githubauth.NewApplicationTokenSource(int64(appID), privateKey)
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating application token source:", err)
  return
 }

 installationTokenSource := githubauth.NewInstallationTokenSource(installationID, appTokenSource)

 httpClient := oauth2.NewClient(context.Background(), installationTokenSource)
 githubClient := github.NewClient(httpClient)

 _, _, err = githubClient.PullRequests.CreateComment(context.Background(), "owner", "repo", 1, &github.PullRequestComment{
  Body: github.String("Awesome comment!"),
 })
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating comment:", err)
  return
 }
}

Generate GitHub Application Token

First, create a GitHub App and generate a private key. To authenticate as a GitHub App, you need to generate a JWT. Generating a JWT for a GitHub App

With Client ID (Recommended)

package main

import (
 "fmt"
 "os"
 "time"

 "github.com/jferrl/go-githubauth"
)

func main() {
 privateKey := []byte(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY"))
 clientID := os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_CLIENT_ID") // e.g., "Iv1.1234567890abcdef"

 // Type automatically inferred as string
 tokenSource, err := githubauth.NewApplicationTokenSource(
  clientID, 
  privateKey, 
  githubauth.WithApplicationTokenExpiration(5*time.Minute),
 )
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating token source:", err)
  return
 }

 token, err := tokenSource.Token()
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error generating token:", err)
  return
 }

 fmt.Println("Generated JWT token:", token.AccessToken)
}

With App ID

package main

import (
 "fmt"
 "os"
 "strconv"
 "time"

 "github.com/jferrl/go-githubauth"
)

func main() {
 privateKey := []byte(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY"))
 appID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_ID"), 10, 64)

 // Type automatically inferred as int64
 tokenSource, err := githubauth.NewApplicationTokenSource(
  int64(appID), 
  privateKey, 
  githubauth.WithApplicationTokenExpiration(5*time.Minute),
 )
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating token source:", err)
  return
 }

 token, err := tokenSource.Token()
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error generating token:", err)
  return
 }

 fmt.Println("Generated JWT token:", token.AccessToken)
}

Generate GitHub App Installation Token

To authenticate as a GitHub App installation, you need to obtain an installation token using your GitHub App JWT.

package main

import (
 "fmt"
 "os"
 "strconv"

 "github.com/jferrl/go-githubauth"
)

func main() {
 privateKey := []byte(os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY"))
 clientID := os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_CLIENT_ID") // e.g., "Iv1.1234567890abcdef"
 installationID, _ := strconv.ParseInt(os.Getenv("GITHUB_INSTALLATION_ID"), 10, 64)

 // Create GitHub App JWT token source with Client ID
 appTokenSource, err := githubauth.NewApplicationTokenSource(clientID, privateKey)
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error creating application token source:", err)
  return
 }

 // Create installation token source using the app token source
 installationTokenSource := githubauth.NewInstallationTokenSource(installationID, appTokenSource)

 token, err := installationTokenSource.Token()
 if err != nil {
  fmt.Println("Error generating installation token:", err)
  return
 }

 fmt.Println("Generated installation token:", token.AccessToken)
}

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.