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The REST API is now versioned. For more information, see "About API versioning."

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 "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 for "List organization secrets"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
orgstringRequired

The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

Query parameters
Name, Type, Description
per_pageinteger

The number of results per page (max 100).

Default: 30

pageinteger

Page number of the results to fetch.

Default: 1

HTTP response status codes for "List organization secrets"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples for "List organization secrets"

get/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets
curl -L \ -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 for "Get an organization public key"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
orgstringRequired

The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

HTTP response status codes for "Get an organization public key"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples for "Get an organization public key"

get/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets/public-key
curl -L \ -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 for "Get an organization secret"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
orgstringRequired

The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

secret_namestringRequired

The name of the secret.

HTTP response status codes for "Get an organization secret"

Status codeDescription
200

OK

Code samples for "Get an organization secret"

get/orgs/{org}/actions/secrets/{secret_name}
curl -L \ -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.GetBytes("mySecret");
var publicKey = Convert.FromBase64String("2Sg8iYjAxxmI2LvUXpJjkYrMxURPc8r+dB7TJyvvcCU=");

var sealedPublicKeyBox = Sodium.SealedPublicKeyBox.Create(secretValue, publicKey);

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBase64String(sealedPublicKeyBox));

Example encrypting a secret using Ruby

Encrypt your secret using the rbnacl gem.

require "rbnacl"
require "base64"

key = Base64.decode64("+ZYvJDZMHUfBkJdyq5Zm9SKqeuBQ4sj+6sfjlH4CgG0=")
public_key = RbNaCl::PublicKey.new(key)

box = RbNaCl::Boxes::Sealed.from_public_key(public_key)
encrypted_secret = box.encrypt("my_secret")

# Print the base64 encoded secret
puts Base64.strict_encode64(encrypted_secret)

Parameters for "Create or update an organization secret"

Headers
Name, Type, Description
acceptstring

Setting to application/vnd.github+json is recommended.

Path parameters
Name, Type, Description
orgstringRequired

The organization name. The name is not case sensitive.

secret_namestringRequired

The name of the secret.

Body parameters
Name, Type, Description
encrypted_valuestring

Value for your secret, encrypted with LibSodium using the public key retrieved from the Get an organization public key endpoint.

key_idstring

ID of the key you used to encrypt the secret.

visibilitystringRequired

Which type of organization repositories have access to the organization secret. selected means only the repositories specified by selected_repository_ids can access the secret.

Can be one of: all, private, selected

selected_repository_idsarray of integers

An array of repository ids that can access the organization secret. You can only provide a list of repository ids when the visibility is set to selected. You can manage the list of selected repositories using the List selected repositories for an organization secret, Set selected repositories for an organization secret, and Remove selected repository from an organization secret endpoints.

HTTP response status codes for "Create or update an organization secret"

Status codeDescription
201

Response when creating a secret

204

Response when updating a secret

Code samples for "Create or update an organization secret"