GITHIB – Fine Grained or Classic Personal Access Token? What About Scope?

Difference Between Fine-Grained and Classic Personal Access Tokens

Fine-Grained Personal Access Tokens:

• Offer enhanced security by allowing you to specify exactly which repositories and which permissions (read, write, etc.) the token has access to.
• Can be limited to a single user or organization, and even to specific repositories within that organization.
• Permissions are highly granular, with over 50 possible settings, so you can tightly control what the token can do.
• Tokens have expiration dates, reducing the risk of long-term exposure.
• Organization owners can require approval for tokens accessing their resources.
• However, fine-grained tokens currently have some limitations, such as not supporting all GitHub features (e.g., contributing to public repos as a non-member, accessing multiple organizations, some package and project APIs) though GitHub is working to close these gaps.

Classic Personal Access Tokens (PATs):

• Use broader permission scopes (e.g., repo grants full access to all repositories you can access).
• Can access all repositories and organizations the user can access, with fewer restrictions.
• Do not expire by default, which increases risk if the token is leaked.
• Less granular control over what the token can do.

Which Should You Use with bolt.net?

GitHub recommends using fine-grained personal access tokens whenever possible, as they provide better security and control. If your use case with bolt.net is supported by fine-grained tokens (i.e., you don’t need to access multiple organizations, certain package APIs, or other unsupported features), you should use a fine-grained token.

However, if bolt.net requires access to features or repositories not yet supported by fine-grained tokens, you may need to use a classic PAT until those gaps are addressed.

Summary Table

Feature	Fine-Grained Token	Classic PAT (Personal Access Token)
Permission granularity	Highly granular (over 50 permissions)	Broad scopes (e.g., repo, admin)
Repository/Org limitation	Specific repos/orgs only	All repos/orgs user can access
Expiration	Required	Optional
Security	More secure, less risk if leaked	Less secure, higher risk if leaked
Supported features	Some limitations (see above)	Full API support
Recommended by GitHub	Yes, whenever possible	Only if fine-grained token is insufficient

Recommendation

Use a fine-grained personal access token with bolt.net unless you encounter a specific limitation that requires a classic PAT. Always review the permissions required by bolt.net and match them as closely as possible with a fine-grained token for optimal security

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Checking all scopes when creating a GitHub personal access token is not recommended because it grants the token far more permissions than necessary, increasing your security risk significantly. Each scope you select gives the token—and anything or anyone who gets access to it—the ability to perform those actions across all your repositories or account, including sensitive operations like deleting repositories, modifying organization settings, or accessing private data.

Key reasons not to check all scopes:

• Security Risk: The more permissions a token has, the more damage can be done if it is ever leaked or compromised. For example, the delete_repo scope allows deletion of any repository you have access to, which could be catastrophic.
• Principle of Least Privilege: Best practice is to grant only the minimum permissions necessary for the task. This limits potential harm and exposure.
• Audit and Compliance: Restricting scopes makes it easier to audit and understand what a token can do, which is important for security reviews and compliance.
• Organizational Restrictions: Some organizations may restrict the use of broadly scoped tokens, requiring you to use fine-grained tokens with only the necessary permissions.

“Only give the permissions your workflow needs. Use fine-grained tokens for better security.” 

Recommendation:
Select only the specific scopes required for your workflow or tool. If you’re unsure, start with the minimal set and add more only if you encounter permission errors. This approach keeps your GitHub account and repositories much safe