# Project authentication failure - The thing I never remember when things stop working

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/project-authentication-failure-the-thing-i-never-remember-when-things-stop-working/55938>\
**Category:** General\
**Tags:** security\
**Created:** [31 December 2021 18:51 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/project-authentication-failure-the-thing-i-never-remember-when-things-stop-working/55938 "2021-12-31T18:51:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mrb32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Mrb32](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Mrb32)\
**Post date:** [31 December 2021 18:51 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/project-authentication-failure-the-thing-i-never-remember-when-things-stop-working/55938/1 "2021-12-31T18:51:45Z")

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Ever since GitHub changed their authentication, I always get stuck on this for some reason...

I set SSH encryption up, and use a GitHub personal access token, nothing particularly exotic.

I use a Mac and save my GitHub credentials in the Keychain. A couple of times a year, the authentication stops working when trying to pull/commit changes in GitHub. Why? I probably am the reason for this, it is easy to mistype a password and click yes on the update password in the Keychain dialog box that pops up briefly if different credentials to the ones present in the keychain are entered, or may be it is something else, who knows...

What follows is the same story every time though: I never remember what to do, fight through the extensive GitHub documentation to try all sorts of steps that are completely unnecessary for this issue, all this takes a few hours of tapping in the dark...

So, this time, as a note to self, and may be as a hint for those who like me get stuck on this from time to time:

Next time it happens, all I need to do is to **regenerate** my GitHub **personal access token** , because this is the **password** that is required in combination with my **username** ,

This is done by

- going to the top right hand corner of the web browser window when logged on to the GitHub webpage:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/4/3/432e3456749010095415bb1aa02f805d7c3c5983.png)
- Clicking on the icon there and choosing the Settings option  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/9/5/95da426ee0bbe1a70833694c5b70a7580d2bb64b.png)
- Clicking on the developer options on the next page:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/c/3/c380047c437d0f5a868c3462cf4c645a609c1d5a.png)
- Then choosing "Personal access tokens" on the following page:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/3/1/3185850b9d4b7dda66378c19cd31dedda5471fb9.png)
- Then I should be able to regenerate a key, if I don't suddenly remember that I have saved the previous one in a file somewhere...:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/1/d/1d9b58ec1230b79a163264d9c0a164d228ce1b4b.png)

If this post is still online in a few months, who knows, it might come in handy....

Happy new Year!

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [1 March 2022 18:51 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/project-authentication-failure-the-thing-i-never-remember-when-things-stop-working/55938/2 "2022-03-01T18:51:48Z")

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