docs/content/developers/apps/building-oauth-apps/scopes-for-oauth-apps.md

---
title: Scopes for OAuth Apps
intro: '{% data reusables.shortdesc.understanding_scopes_for_oauth_apps %}'
redirect_from:
  - /apps/building-integrations/setting-up-and-registering-oauth-apps/about-scopes-for-oauth-apps/
  - /apps/building-oauth-apps/scopes-for-oauth-apps/
  - /apps/building-oauth-apps/understanding-scopes-for-oauth-apps
  - /developers/apps/scopes-for-oauth-apps
versions:
  fpt: '*'
  ghes: '*'
  ghae: '*'
topics:
  - OAuth Apps
---
When setting up an OAuth App on GitHub, requested scopes are displayed to the user on the authorization form.

{% note %}

**Note:** If you're building a GitHub App, you don’t need to provide scopes in your authorization request. For more on this, see "[Identifying and authorizing users for GitHub Apps](/apps/building-github-apps/identifying-and-authorizing-users-for-github-apps/)."

{% endnote %}

If your {% data variables.product.prodname_oauth_app %} doesn't have access to a browser, such as a CLI tool, then you don't need to specify a scope for users to authenticate to your app. For more information, see "[Authorizing OAuth apps](/developers/apps/authorizing-oauth-apps#device-flow)."

Check headers to see what OAuth scopes you have, and what the API action accepts:

```shell
$ curl -H "Authorization: token OAUTH-TOKEN" {% data variables.product.api_url_pre %}/users/codertocat -I
HTTP/2 200
X-OAuth-Scopes: repo, user
X-Accepted-OAuth-Scopes: user
```

* `X-OAuth-Scopes` lists the scopes your token has authorized.
* `X-Accepted-OAuth-Scopes` lists the scopes that the action checks for.

## Available scopes

Name | Description
-----|-----------|{% ifversion not ghae %}
**`(no scope)`** | Grants read-only access to public information (including user profile info, repository info, and gists){% endif %}{% ifversion ghes or ghae %}
**`site_admin`** | Grants site administrators access to [{% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %} Administration API endpoints](/rest/reference/enterprise-admin).{% endif %}
**`repo`** | Grants full access to repositories, including private repositories. That includes read/write access to code, commit statuses, repository and organization projects, invitations, collaborators, adding team memberships, deployment statuses, and repository webhooks for repositories and organizations. Also grants ability to manage user projects.
 `repo:status`| Grants read/write access to {% ifversion not ghae %}public{% else %}internal{% endif %} and private repository commit statuses. This scope is only necessary to grant other users or services access to private repository commit statuses *without* granting access to the code.
 `repo_deployment`| Grants access to [deployment statuses](/rest/reference/repos#deployments) for {% ifversion not ghae %}public{% else %}internal{% endif %} and private repositories. This scope is only necessary to grant other users or services access to deployment statuses, *without* granting access to the code.{% ifversion not ghae %}
 `public_repo`| Limits access to public repositories. That includes read/write access to code, commit statuses, repository projects, collaborators, and deployment statuses for public repositories and organizations. Also required for starring public repositories.{% endif %}
 `repo:invite` | Grants accept/decline abilities for invitations to collaborate on a repository. This scope is only necessary to grant other users or services access to invites *without* granting access to the code.{% ifversion fpt or ghes > 3.0 %}
&emsp;`security_events` | Grants: <br/> read and write access to security events in the [{% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} API](/rest/reference/code-scanning) <br/> read and write access to security events in the [{% data variables.product.prodname_secret_scanning %} API](/rest/reference/secret-scanning) <br/> This scope is only necessary to grant other users or services access to security events *without* granting access to the code.{% endif %}{% ifversion ghes < 3.1 %}
&emsp;`security_events` | Grants read and write access to security events in the [{% data variables.product.prodname_code_scanning %} API](/rest/reference/code-scanning). This scope is only necessary to grant other users or services access to security events *without* granting access to the code.{% endif %}
**`admin:repo_hook`** | Grants read, write, ping, and delete access to repository hooks in {% ifversion not ghae %}public{% else %}internal{% endif %} and private repositories. The `repo` {% ifversion not ghae %}and `public_repo` scopes grant{% else %}scope grants{% endif %} full access to repositories, including repository hooks. Use the `admin:repo_hook` scope to limit access to only repository hooks.
&emsp;`write:repo_hook` | Grants read, write, and ping access to hooks in {% ifversion not ghae %}public{% else %}internal{% endif %} or private repositories.
&emsp;`read:repo_hook`| Grants read and ping access to hooks in {% ifversion not ghae %}public{% else %}internal{% endif %} or private repositories.
**`admin:org`** | Fully manage the organization and its teams, projects, and memberships.
&emsp;`write:org`| Read and write access to organization membership, organization projects, and team membership.
&emsp;`read:org`| Read-only access to organization membership, organization projects, and team membership.
**`admin:public_key`** | Fully manage public keys.
&emsp;`write:public_key`| Create, list, and view details for public keys.
&emsp;`read:public_key`| List and view details for public keys.
**`admin:org_hook`** | Grants read, write, ping, and delete access to organization hooks. **Note:** OAuth tokens will only be able to perform these actions on organization hooks which were created by the OAuth App. Personal access tokens will only be able to perform these actions on organization hooks created by a user.
**`gist`** | Grants write access to gists.
**`notifications`** | Grants: <br/>* read access to a user's notifications <br/>* mark as read access to threads <br/>* watch and unwatch access to a repository, and <br/>* read, write, and delete access to thread subscriptions.
**`user`** | Grants read/write access to profile info only.  Note that this scope includes `user:email` and `user:follow`.
&emsp;`read:user`| Grants access to read a user's profile data.
&emsp;`user:email`| Grants read access to a user's email addresses.
&emsp;`user:follow`| Grants access to follow or unfollow other users.
**`delete_repo`** | Grants access to delete adminable repositories.
**`write:discussion`** | Allows read and write access for team discussions.
&emsp;`read:discussion` | Allows read access for team discussions.{% ifversion fpt or ghae %}
**`write:packages`** | Grants access to upload or publish a package in {% data variables.product.prodname_registry %}. For more information, see "[Publishing a package](/github/managing-packages-with-github-packages/publishing-a-package)".
**`read:packages`** | Grants access to download or install packages from {% data variables.product.prodname_registry %}. For more information, see "[Installing a package](/github/managing-packages-with-github-packages/installing-a-package)".
**`delete:packages`** | Grants access to delete packages from {% data variables.product.prodname_registry %}. For more information, see "{% ifversion fpt or ghes > 3.0 %}[Deleting and restoring a package](/packages/learn-github-packages/deleting-and-restoring-a-package){% elsif ghes < 3.1 or ghae %}[Deleting a package](/packages/learn-github-packages/deleting-a-package){% endif %}."{% endif %}
**`admin:gpg_key`** | Fully manage GPG keys.
&emsp;`write:gpg_key`| Create, list, and view details for GPG keys.
&emsp;`read:gpg_key`| List and view details for GPG keys.{% ifversion fpt %}
**`workflow`** | Grants the ability to add and update {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} workflow files. Workflow files can be committed without this scope if the same file (with both the same path and contents) exists on another branch in the same repository. Workflow files can expose `GITHUB_TOKEN` which may have a different set of scopes. For more information, see "[Authentication in a workflow](/actions/reference/authentication-in-a-workflow#permissions-for-the-github_token)."{% endif %}

{% note %}

**Note:** Your OAuth App can request the scopes in the initial redirection. You
can specify multiple scopes by separating them with a space using `%20`:

    https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize?
      client_id=...&
      scope=user%20repo_deployment

{% endnote %}

## Requested scopes and granted scopes

The `scope` attribute lists scopes attached to the token that were granted by
the user. Normally, these scopes will be identical to what you requested.
However, users can edit their scopes, effectively
granting your application less access than you originally requested. Also, users
can edit token scopes after the OAuth flow is completed.
You should be aware of this possibility and adjust your application's behavior
accordingly.

It's important to handle error cases where a user chooses to grant you
less access than you originally requested. For example, applications can warn
or otherwise communicate with their users that they will see reduced
functionality or be unable to perform some actions.

Also, applications can always send users back through the flow again to get
additional permission, but don’t forget that users can always say no.

Check out the [Basics of Authentication guide](/guides/basics-of-authentication/), which
provides tips on handling modifiable token scopes.

## Normalized scopes

When requesting multiple scopes, the token is saved with a normalized list
of scopes, discarding those that are implicitly included by another requested
scope. For example, requesting `user,gist,user:email` will result in a
token with `user` and `gist` scopes only since the access granted with
`user:email` scope is included in the `user` scope.