GitHub Actions Secrets

Use the REST API to interact with secrets in GitHub Actions.

About secrets in GitHub Actions

You can use the REST API to create, update, delete, and retrieve information about encrypted secrets that can be used in workflows in GitHub Actions. Encrypted secrets allow you to store sensitive information, such as access tokens, in your repository, repository environments, or organization. For more information, see "Creating and using encrypted secrets."

These endpoints are available for authenticated users, OAuth Apps, and GitHub Apps. Access tokens require repo scope for private repositories and public_repo scope for public repositories. GitHub Apps must have the secrets permission to use these endpoints. Authenticated users must have collaborator access to a repository to create, update, or read secrets.

List organization secrets

Works with GitHub Apps

Lists all secrets available in an organization without revealing their encrypted values. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org`stringRequired The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.
Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
`per_page`integer The number of results per page (max 100). Default: `30`
`page`integer Page number of the results to fetch. Default: `1`

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/actions/secrets

Response

Status: 200

{
  "total_count": 3,
  "secrets": [
    {
      "name": "GIST_ID",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
      "visibility": "private"
    },
    {
      "name": "DEPLOY_TOKEN",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
      "visibility": "all"
    },
    {
      "name": "GH_TOKEN",
      "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
      "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
      "visibility": "selected",
      "selected_repositories_url": "https://api.github.com/orgs/octo-org/actions/secrets/SUPER_SECRET/repositories"
    }
  ]
}

Get an organization public key

Works with GitHub Apps

Gets your public key, which you need to encrypt secrets. You need to encrypt a secret before you can create or update secrets. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org`stringRequired The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets/public-key

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/actions/secrets/public-key

Response

Status: 200

{
  "key_id": "012345678912345678",
  "key": "2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvv1234"
}

Get an organization secret

Works with GitHub Apps

Gets a single organization secret without revealing its encrypted value. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

Parameters

Headers
Name, Type, Description
`accept`string Setting to `application/vnd.github+json` is recommended.
Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
`org`stringRequired The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.
`secret_name`stringRequired The name of the secret.

HTTP response status codes

Status code	Description
`200`	OK

Code samples

get/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets/{secret_name}

curl \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR-TOKEN>"\
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  https://api.github.com/orgs/ORG/actions/secrets/SECRET_NAME

Response

Status: 200

{
  "name": "GH_TOKEN",
  "created_at": "2019-08-10T14:59:22Z",
  "updated_at": "2020-01-10T14:59:22Z",
  "visibility": "selected",
  "selected_repositories_url": "https://api.github.com/orgs/octo-org/actions/secrets/SUPER_SECRET/repositories"
}

Create or update an organization secret

Works with GitHub Apps

Creates or updates an organization secret with an encrypted value. Encrypt your secret using LibSodium. You must authenticate using an access token with the admin:org scope to use this endpoint. GitHub Apps must have the secrets organization permission to use this endpoint.

Example encrypting a secret using Node.js

Encrypt your secret using the libsodium-wrappers library.

const sodium = require('libsodium-wrappers')
const secret = 'plain-text-secret' // replace with the secret you want to encrypt
const key = 'base64-encoded-public-key' // replace with the Base64 encoded public key

//Check if libsodium is ready and then proceed.
sodium.ready.then(() => {
  // Convert Secret & Base64 key to Uint8Array.
  let binkey = sodium.from_base64(key, sodium.base64_variants.ORIGINAL)
  let binsec = sodium.from_string(secret)

  //Encrypt the secret using LibSodium
  let encBytes = sodium.crypto_box_seal(binsec, binkey)

  // Convert encrypted Uint8Array to Base64
  let output = sodium.to_base64(encBytes, sodium.base64_variants.ORIGINAL)

  console.log(output)
});

Example encrypting a secret using Python

Encrypt your secret using pynacl with Python 3.

from base64 import b64encode
from nacl import encoding, public

def encrypt(public_key: str, secret_value: str) -> str:
  """Encrypt a Unicode string using the public key."""
  public_key = public.PublicKey(public_key.encode("utf-8"), encoding.Base64Encoder())
  sealed_box = public.SealedBox(public_key)
  encrypted = sealed_box.encrypt(secret_value.encode("utf-8"))
  return b64encode(encrypted).decode("utf-8")

Example encrypting a secret using C#

Encrypt your secret using the Sodium.Core package.

var secretValue = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.