How to Change Your Personal Access Token in Git: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Change Your Personal Access Token in Git: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re using Git to manage your code, you probably know about personal access tokens. These tokens are used to authenticate with Git servers and are essential for accessing repositories from your local machine. However, managing these tokens is crucial to maintain the security of your Git account. In this article, we’ll guide you through the simple steps required to change your personal access token in Git.

Step 1: Generate a new personal access token

To generate a new personal access token in Git, follow these steps:

1. Open your Git client and sign in to your account.
2. Click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen and select “Settings”.
3. In the Settings panel, click on “Developer settings” in the sidebar and then click “Personal access tokens”.
4. Click on “Generate new token” and follow the prompts to generate a new token.

Step 2: Revoke the old token

Once you’ve generated a new token, it’s essential to revoke the old one to ensure that it’s no longer being used. To revoke the old token, follow these steps:

1. In the same “Personal access tokens” section in your Git account settings, click on “Delete” next to the old token.
2. Confirm the deletion by clicking on “Delete” again in the pop-up prompt.

Step 3: Update your Git credentials

Now that you’ve generated a new token and revoked the old one, you need to update your Git credentials to use the new token. To update your Git credentials, follow these steps:

1. Open your Git client and navigate to your repository.
2. Enter the following command to update your Git credentials:

“`
git config –global credential.helper store
“`

3. Next, enter the following command to remove the old Git credentials:

“`
git credential reject
“`

4. Finally, enter the following command to add your new Git credentials:

“`
git credential approve
“`

Conclusion

Changing your personal access token in Git is a simple process that’s essential to maintaining your account’s security. Remember always to generate a new token, revoke the old one, and update your Git credentials to ensure that you’re using the latest token and preventing any unauthorized access to your account. By following these steps, you can have peace of mind in knowing that your Git repositories are secure.