You need to authenticate when you push or pull code to/from GitHub. GitHub no longer allows password-based authentication for security reasons. Instead, you have two options:

1️⃣ HTTPS (Using a Personal Access Token - PAT)

2️⃣ SSH (Using an SSH Key)

✅ Option 1: Authenticate with HTTPS (Recommended for Beginners)

🔹 How It Works:

• Instead of using a password, you use a Personal Access Token (PAT) when Git asks for credentials.
• This method is easier and works on any system without extra setup.

🔷 Steps to Set Up HTTPS Authentication

Step 1: Generate a Personal Access Token (PAT)

1. Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer Settings → Personal Access Tokens → Fine-grained tokens👉 Click Here to Generate a Token
2. Click "Generate new token" → "Fine-grained token"
3. Select:
   • Repository access: All repositories (or select specific ones)
   • Permissions:
     • Repository permissions: Read & write
     • Commit statuses: Read & write
4. Copy the token (you won’t see it again).

Step 2: Use the Token Instead of a Password

Now, when you clone, pull, or push, GitHub will ask for credentials.

• When cloning a repo:

  git clone <https://github.com/your-username/repository.git>
  

• Git will ask for your GitHub username and password.

  • Use your username as usual.
  • Paste the PAT (instead of your GitHub password).

💡 To avoid entering the token every time, you can cache it:

git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain  # macOS
git config --global credential.helper cache        # Linux