Personal access tokens API

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate
Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

Use this API to interact with personal access tokens. For more information, see Personal access tokens.

List all personal access tokens

Version history

created_after, created_before, last_used_after, last_used_before, revoked, search and state filters were introduced in GitLab 15.5.

Lists all personal access tokens accessible by the authenticating user. For administrators, returns a list of all personal access tokens in the instance. For non-administrators, returns a list of the personal access tokens for the current user.

GET /personal_access_tokens
GET /personal_access_tokens?created_after=2022-01-01T00:00:00
GET /personal_access_tokens?created_before=2022-01-01T00:00:00
GET /personal_access_tokens?last_used_after=2022-01-01T00:00:00
GET /personal_access_tokens?last_used_before=2022-01-01T00:00:00
GET /personal_access_tokens?revoked=true
GET /personal_access_tokens?search=name
GET /personal_access_tokens?state=inactive
GET /personal_access_tokens?user_id=1

Supported attributes:

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`created_after`	datetime (ISO 8601)	No	If defined, returns tokens created after the specified time.
`created_before`	datetime (ISO 8601)	No	If defined, returns tokens created before the specified time.
`last_used_after`	datetime (ISO 8601)	No	If defined, returns tokens last used after the specified time.
`last_used_before`	datetime (ISO 8601)	No	If defined, returns tokens last used before the specified time.
`revoked`	boolean	No	If `true`, only returns revoked tokens.
`search`	string	No	If defined, returns tokens that include the specified value in the name.
`state`	string	No	If defined, returns tokens with the specified state. Possible values: `active` and `inactive`.
`user_id`	integer or string	No	If defined, returns tokens owned by the specified user. Non-administrators can only filter their own tokens.

Example request:

curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"

Example response:

[
    {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "Test Token",
        "revoked": false,
        "created_at": "2020-07-23T14:31:47.729Z",
        "description": "Test Token description",
        "scopes": [
            "api"
        ],
        "user_id": 3,
        "last_used_at": "2021-10-06T17:58:37.550Z",
        "active": true,
        "expires_at": null
    }
]

If successful, returns a list of tokens.

Other possible response:

401: Unauthorized if a non-administrator uses the user_id attribute to filter for other users.

Get details on a personal access token

Version history

Introduced in GitLab 15.1.
404 HTTP status code introduced in GitLab 15.3.

Gets details on a specified personal access token. Administrators can get details on any token. Non-administrators can only get details on own tokens.

GET /personal_access_tokens/:id

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	yes	ID of a personal access token or the keyword `self`.

curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens/<id>"

If successful, returns details on the token.

Other possible responses:

401: Unauthorized if either:
- The token does not exist.
- You do not have access to the specified token.
404: Not Found if the user is an administrator but the token does not exist.

Self-inform

Version history

Introduced in GitLab 15.5

Instead of getting details on a specific personal access token, you can also return details on the personal access token you used to authenticate the request. To return these details, you must use the self keyword in the request URL.

curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens/self"

Create a personal access token

Offering: GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

You can create personal access tokens with the user tokens API. For more information, see the following endpoints:

Rotate a personal access token

Version history

Introduced in GitLab 16.0
expires_at attribute added in GitLab 16.6.

Rotates a specified personal access token. This revokes the previous token and creates a new token that expires after one week. Administrators can revoke tokens for any user. Non-administrators can only revoke their own tokens.

POST /personal_access_tokens/:id/rotate

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
`id`	integer or string	yes	ID of a personal access token or the keyword `self`.
`expires_at`	date	no	Expiration date of the access token in ISO format (`YYYY-MM-DD`). The date must be one year or less from the rotation date. If undefined, the token expires after one week.

curl --request POST \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens/<personal_access_token_id>/rotate"

Example response:

{
    "id": 42,
    "name": "Rotated Token",
    "revoked": false,
    "created_at": "2023-08-01T15:00:00.000Z",
    "description": "Test Token description",
    "scopes": ["api"],
    "user_id": 1337,
    "last_used_at": null,
    "active": true,
    "expires_at": "2023-08-15",
    "token": "s3cr3t"
}

If successful, returns 200: OK.

Other possible responses:

400: Bad Request if not rotated successfully.
401: Unauthorized if any of the following conditions are true:
- The token does not exist.
- The token has expired.
- The token was revoked.
- You do not have access to the specified token.
403: Forbidden if the token is not allowed to rotate itself.
404: Not Found if the user is an administrator but the token does not exist.
405: Method Not Allowed if the token is not a personal access token.

Self-rotate

Version history

Introduced in GitLab 16.10

Instead of rotating a specific personal access token, you can also rotate the same personal access token you used to authenticate the request. To self-rotate a personal access token, you must:

Rotate a personal access token with the api or self_rotate scope.
Use the self keyword in the request URL.

curl --request POST \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens/self/rotate"

Automatic reuse detection

Version history

Introduced in GitLab 16.3

When you rotate or revoke a token, GitLab automatically tracks the relationship between the old and new tokens. Each time a new token is generated, a connection is made to the previous token. These connected tokens form a token family. Only the newest token can authenticate requests.

If an old token is ever used to authenticate a request, the request fails and GitLab immediately revokes the newest token in the family.

This feature helps secure GitLab if an old token is ever leaked or stolen. By tracking token relationships and automatically revoking access when old tokens are used, attackers cannot exploit compromised tokens.

Revoke a personal access token

Revokes a specified personal access token. Administrators can revoke tokens for any user. Non-administrators can only revoke their own tokens.

curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"
```0

| Attribute | Type    | Required | Description         |
|-----------|---------|----------|---------------------|
| `id` | integer or string | yes | ID of a personal access token or the keyword `self`. |

```shell
curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"
```1

If successful, returns `204: No Content`.

Other possible responses:

- `400: Bad Request` if not revoked successfully.
- `401: Unauthorized` if the access token is invalid.
- `403: Forbidden` if the access token does not have the required permissions.

### Self-revoke

#### Version history

- [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/350240) in GitLab 15.0. Limited to tokens with `api` scope.
- [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/369103) in GitLab 15.4, any token can use this endpoint.

Instead of revoking a specific personal access token, you can also revoke the same personal access
token you used to authenticate the request. To self-revoke a personal access token, you must use
the `self` keyword in the request URL.

```shell
curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"
```2

## List all token associations

### Version history

- [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/466046) in GitLab 17.4.

Lists all groups, subgroups, and projects associated with the personal access token used to authenticate the request.

```shell
curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"
```3

Supported attributes:

| Attribute           | Type     | Required | Description                                                              |
|---------------------|----------|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `min_access_level`  | integer  | No       | Limit by current user minimal [role (`access_level`)](members.md#roles). |
| `page`              | integer  | No       | Page to retrieve. Defaults to `1`.                                       |
| `per_page`          | integer  | No       | Number of records to return per page. Defaults to `20`.                  |

Example request:

```shell
curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"
```4

Example response:

```shell
curl --request GET \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/personal_access_tokens?user_id=3&created_before=2022-01-01"
```5

## Related topics

- [Token troubleshooting](../security/tokens/token_troubleshooting.md)