You must choose or generate a password for your GitHub account that is at least:
- Eight characters long, if it includes a number and a lowercase letter, or
- 15 characters long with any combination of characters
To keep your account secure, we recommend you follow these best practices:
- Use a password manager, such as LastPass, 1Password, or Keeper, to generate a password of at least 15 characters.
- Generate a unique password for GitHub. If you use your GitHub password elsewhere and that service is compromised, then attackers or other malicious actors could use that information to access your GitHub account.
- Configure two-factor authentication for your personal account. For more information, see "About two-factor authentication."
- Never share your password, even with a potential collaborator. Each person should use their own personal account on GitHub. For more information on ways to collaborate, see: "Inviting collaborators to a personal repository," "About collaborative development models," or "Collaborating with groups in organizations."
When you type a password to sign in, create an account, or change your password, GitHub will check if the password you entered is considered weak according to datasets like HaveIBeenPwned. The password may be identified as weak even if you have never used that password before.
GitHub only inspects the password at the time you type it, and never stores the password you entered in plaintext. For more information, see HaveIBeenPwned.
You can only use your password to log on to GitHub using your browser. When you authenticate to GitHub with other means, such as the command line or API, you should use other credentials. For more information, see "About authentication to GitHub."
When Git prompts you for your password, enter your personal access token (PAT) instead. Password-based authentication for Git is deprecated, and using a PAT is more secure. For more information, see "Creating a personal access token."