Use Of Session Token Instead of Personal Access token For GitHub Spoke - Support and Troubleshooting

Use Of Session Token Instead of Personal Access token For GitHub Spoke Issue .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } In the ServiceNow GitHub Spoke, we only have the option to authenticate using an API Key (Personal Access Token). However, Customer may require to use a session-based authentication flow (secret → generate JWT → request session token) and there is do no option in the GitHub Spoke documentation to configure or support this authentication mechanism.

Release .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Any Release

Cause .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Session tokens Cannot Be Used with the ServiceNow GitHub Spoke. The GitHub session tokens (GITHUB_TOKEN in Actions workflows or web session cookies) are not designed for API authentication in the way the ServiceNow GitHub Spoke requires and below are the reasons:

1. GitHub API Does Not Accept Session Tokens GitHub's REST API requires either a PAT, OAuth token, or GitHub App token passed in the Authorization header. Session tokens are browser-based cookies not accepted by the GitHub REST API that the ServiceNow spoke calls.

2. ServiceNow GitHub Spoke Authentication Methods The ServiceNow GitHub Spoke uses Basic Authentication with a PAT as the password field — GitHub deprecated basic authentication using a password from August 2021, making PAT the required authentication method. ServiceNow The spoke's credential configuration only supports:

Basic Auth (username + PAT as password) API Key (PAT passed as Bearer token) There is no session token input field in the GitHub Spoke credential configuration.

3. Session Tokens Are Short-Lived GitHub session tokens typically expire within 1 hour or when the browser session ends — making them impractical for a persistent integration like a ServiceNow spoke that needs to authenticate on every API call.

The Officially Supported Authentication Methods for GitHub Spoke Method. How to Configure. Notes Classic PAT. Basic Auth — username + PAT as password. Most common, widely supported Fine-grained PAT. Basic Auth — username + PAT as password. More secure, scoped to specific repos GitHub OAuth App Token OAuth 2.0 credential record. For OAuth-based flows SSH Key. Source Control linking only Not for IntegrationHub Spoke

In summary, session tokens are not supported by the ServiceNow GitHub Spoke because GitHub's REST API does not accept session tokens for authentication, and the spoke's credential framework only supports PAT-based or OAuth-based authentication. A Fine-grained PAT is the most secure supported alternative.

Resolution .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Recommended Approach will be to use Fine-Grained PAT which is most secure if security is the concern driving the interest in session tokens, use a Fine-grained PAT instead by following the steps below

Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer Settings → Fine-grained tokens Click Generate new token Configure:

Token name: ServiceNow Integration Expiration: Set appropriate duration Repository access: Restrict to specific repositories only Permissions: Only grant what is needed (e.g. Issues: Read/Write, Pull Requests: Read/Write)

Copy the token In ServiceNow go to Connections & Credentials → Credentials Create a Basic Auth credential:

Username: GitHub username Password: Fine-grained PAT