Configure access to private repositories

You can configure HTTP basic authentication to access private Git repositories that use HTTP or HTTPS URLs. This authentication method uses a username and password (typically a personal access token) to access your repository.

When to use HTTP basic authentication

Use HTTP basic authentication when:

• Your Git repository requires authentication and uses an HTTP or HTTPS URL
• You want to use a personal access token instead of SSH keys
• Your organization’s security policies require token-based authentication
• You need to access repositories on platforms like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket with HTTPS URLs

Prerequisites

• IAG secret store configured with an encryption key. See Configure IAG secret store.
• A personal access token or password for your Git repository
• Administrator role permissions to create secrets and repositories

How HTTP basic authentication works

IAG stores your authentication credentials securely:

1. You create a secret that contains your password or personal access token
2. You create a repository and reference the secret by name
3. When a service runs, IAG uses the stored credentials to access the repository

Create a secret for your authentication token

Before you create a repository with HTTP basic authentication, create a secret to store your personal access token or password.

Use the iagctl create secret command with the --prompt-value flag:

$
iagctl create secret <secret-name> --prompt-value

Example:

$
iagctl create secret github-token --prompt-value

When prompted, enter your token. IAG encrypts and stores the token securely.

Create a repository with HTTP basic authentication

After you create a secret, you can create a repository that uses HTTP basic authentication.

Syntax:

$
iagctl create repository <repository-name> \
>
  --url <https-git-url> \
>
  --username <git-username> \
>
  --password-name <secret-name>

Parameters:

Example — create a repository that uses GitHub authentication:

$
iagctl create repository my-private-repo \
>
  --url https://github.com/example/some-private-repo-with-automations.git \
>
  --username your-username \
>
  --password-name github-token

Complete example workflow

This example shows the complete process of setting up HTTP basic authentication for a GitHub repository.

$
iagctl create secret github-token --prompt-value

$
iagctl create repository my-private-repo \
>
  --url https://github.com/example/automation-scripts.git \
>
  --username myusername \
>
  --password-name github-token

$
iagctl create service executable backup-service \
>
  --executable-object bash-standard \
>
  --repository my-private-repo \
>
  --working-dir scripts \
>
  --filename backup.sh