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1 gitcredentials(7)
2 =================
3
4 NAME
5 ----
6 gitcredentials - providing usernames and passwords to Git
7
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 ------------------
11 git config credential.https://example.com.username myusername
12 git config credential.helper "$helper $options"
13 ------------------
14
15 DESCRIPTION
16 -----------
17
18 Git will sometimes need credentials from the user in order to perform
19 operations; for example, it may need to ask for a username and password
20 in order to access a remote repository over HTTP. This manual describes
21 the mechanisms Git uses to request these credentials, as well as some
22 features to avoid inputting these credentials repeatedly.
23
24 REQUESTING CREDENTIALS
25 ----------------------
26
27 Without any credential helpers defined, Git will try the following
28 strategies to ask the user for usernames and passwords:
29
30 1. If the `GIT_ASKPASS` environment variable is set, the program
31 specified by the variable is invoked. A suitable prompt is provided
32 to the program on the command line, and the user's input is read
33 from its standard output.
34
35 2. Otherwise, if the `core.askPass` configuration variable is set, its
36 value is used as above.
37
38 3. Otherwise, if the `SSH_ASKPASS` environment variable is set, its
39 value is used as above.
40
41 4. Otherwise, the user is prompted on the terminal.
42
43 AVOIDING REPETITION
44 -------------------
45
46 It can be cumbersome to input the same credentials over and over. Git
47 provides two methods to reduce this annoyance:
48
49 1. Static configuration of usernames for a given authentication context.
50
51 2. Credential helpers to cache or store passwords, or to interact with
52 a system password wallet or keychain.
53
54 The first is simple and appropriate if you do not have secure storage available
55 for a password. It is generally configured by adding this to your config:
56
57 ---------------------------------------
58 [credential "https://example.com"]
59 username = me
60 ---------------------------------------
61
62 Credential helpers, on the other hand, are external programs from which Git can
63 request both usernames and passwords; they typically interface with secure
64 storage provided by the OS or other programs.
65
66 To use a helper, you must first select one to use. Git currently
67 includes the following helpers:
68
69 cache::
70
71 Cache credentials in memory for a short period of time. See
72 linkgit:git-credential-cache[1] for details.
73
74 store::
75
76 Store credentials indefinitely on disk. See
77 linkgit:git-credential-store[1] for details.
78
79 You may also have third-party helpers installed; search for
80 `credential-*` in the output of `git help -a`, and consult the
81 documentation of individual helpers. Once you have selected a helper,
82 you can tell Git to use it by putting its name into the
83 credential.helper variable.
84
85 1. Find a helper.
86 +
87 -------------------------------------------
88 $ git help -a | grep credential-
89 credential-foo
90 -------------------------------------------
91
92 2. Read its description.
93 +
94 -------------------------------------------
95 $ git help credential-foo
96 -------------------------------------------
97
98 3. Tell Git to use it.
99 +
100 -------------------------------------------
101 $ git config --global credential.helper foo
102 -------------------------------------------
103
104 If there are multiple instances of the `credential.helper` configuration
105 variable, each helper will be tried in turn, and may provide a username,
106 password, or nothing. Once Git has acquired both a username and a
107 password, no more helpers will be tried.
108
109 If `credential.helper` is configured to the empty string, this resets
110 the helper list to empty (so you may override a helper set by a
111 lower-priority config file by configuring the empty-string helper,
112 followed by whatever set of helpers you would like).
113
114
115 CREDENTIAL CONTEXTS
116 -------------------
117
118 Git considers each credential to have a context defined by a URL. This context
119 is used to look up context-specific configuration, and is passed to any
120 helpers, which may use it as an index into secure storage.
121
122 For instance, imagine we are accessing `https://example.com/foo.git`. When Git
123 looks into a config file to see if a section matches this context, it will
124 consider the two a match if the context is a more-specific subset of the
125 pattern in the config file. For example, if you have this in your config file:
126
127 --------------------------------------
128 [credential "https://example.com"]
129 username = foo
130 --------------------------------------
131
132 then we will match: both protocols are the same, both hosts are the same, and
133 the "pattern" URL does not care about the path component at all. However, this
134 context would not match:
135
136 --------------------------------------
137 [credential "https://kernel.org"]
138 username = foo
139 --------------------------------------
140
141 because the hostnames differ. Nor would it match `foo.example.com`; Git
142 compares hostnames exactly, without considering whether two hosts are part of
143 the same domain. Likewise, a config entry for `http://example.com` would not
144 match: Git compares the protocols exactly.
145
146
147 CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
148 ---------------------
149
150 Options for a credential context can be configured either in
151 `credential.*` (which applies to all credentials), or
152 `credential.<url>.*`, where <url> matches the context as described
153 above.
154
155 The following options are available in either location:
156
157 helper::
158
159 The name of an external credential helper, and any associated options.
160 If the helper name is not an absolute path, then the string `git
161 credential-` is prepended. The resulting string is executed by the
162 shell (so, for example, setting this to `foo --option=bar` will execute
163 `git credential-foo --option=bar` via the shell. See the manual of
164 specific helpers for examples of their use.
165
166 username::
167
168 A default username, if one is not provided in the URL.
169
170 useHttpPath::
171
172 By default, Git does not consider the "path" component of an http URL
173 to be worth matching via external helpers. This means that a credential
174 stored for `https://example.com/foo.git` will also be used for
175 `https://example.com/bar.git`. If you do want to distinguish these
176 cases, set this option to `true`.
177
178
179 CUSTOM HELPERS
180 --------------
181
182 You can write your own custom helpers to interface with any system in
183 which you keep credentials. See the documentation for Git's
184 link:technical/api-credentials.html[credentials API] for details.
185
186 GIT
187 ---
188 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite