Getting 401 Unauthorized error while requesting GitHub API

Question

Good evening. My task is to create a website with react that will list through github users. I was following this instruction: https://docs.github.com/en/rest/users/users#get-a-user (for JS). My credentials:

async function searchUsers() {
  try {
    const octokit = new Octokit({
      auth: 'ghp_MY_PERSONAL_TOKEN',
      acceptstring: 'application/vnd.github.v3+json'
    })
    const response = await octokit.request(`GET /users/${name}`, {
      username: 'maria98kgm'
    });

    setUsers(response.data);
    setLoading(false);
    searchRepos();
    } 
    catch(e) {
      setLoading(false);
      setUsers('notFound');
      console.error('no such a user');
   }
}

Whenever i use it too long or push changes to github, it stops working and gives me 401 Unauthorized error:

I cannot solve it for two days already, please help.

This seems like it would only throw this error if your token was invalid or doesn't have access to whatever you're requesting, but in this case, it's likely that you have an invalid token. I'd just go ahead and generate a new one and try with that. — Mytch
– Mytch, Commented May 21, 2022 at 23:31
no, im using personal access tokens: docs.github.com/en/authentication/… — hat goblin
– hat goblin, Commented May 21, 2022 at 23:43

jsejcksn · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-22 00:21:33Z

You don't need any authentication for that endpoint. Here's a working example:

body { font-family: sans-serif; }
button, input[type="text"] { font-size: 1rem; padding: 0.2rem; }
pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 1rem; }
.vertical { display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: flex-start; gap: 0.5rem; }

<!-- Babel seemed to have trouble with this, so I'm putting it on window -->
<script type="module">
  import {Octokit} from 'https://cdn.skypack.dev/[email protected]';
  window.Octokit = Octokit;
</script>

<div id="root"></div><script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/umd/react.development.js"></script><script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/umd/react-dom.development.js"></script><script src="https://unpkg.com/@babel/[email protected]/babel.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/babel" data-type="module" data-presets="env,react">

// import * as ReactDOM from 'react-dom/client';
// import {useState} from 'react';
// import {Octokit} from 'octokit';

// This Stack Overflow snippet demo uses UMD modules instead of the commented import statments above
const {useState} = React;

const octokit = new Octokit();

function App () {
  const [user, setUser] = useState('maria98kgm');
  const [userData, setUserData] = useState(undefined);
  const [error, setError] = useState(undefined);

  const updateUserData = async () => {
    try {
      const username = user.trim();
      const response = await octokit.request(`GET /users/${username}`);
      setUserData(response.data);
      setError(undefined);
    }
    catch (ex) {
      if (ex instanceof Error) setError(ex);
      else console.error(ex);
    }
  };

  const displayString = error
    ? error.toString()
    : userData
      ? JSON.stringify(userData, null, 2)
      : 'No data yet';

  return (
    <div>
      <div className="vertical">
        <input
          type="text"
          onChange={ev => setUser(ev.target.value)}
          value={user}
        />
        <button onClick={updateUserData}>Update user data</button>
      </div>
      <pre><code>{displayString}</code></pre>
    </div>
  );
}

const reactRoot = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
reactRoot.render(<App />);

</script>

alexzerah · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-22 00:13:27Z

-1

Explanation of the error.

The 404 status code means your authentication data are not the good ones.

How to solve it.

First, check your GitHub personal token is ok (i am guessing it is)
Second, do the following : https://docs.github.com/en/developers/apps/building-github-apps/identifying-and-authorizing-users-for-github-apps

answered May 22, 2022 at 0:13

alexzerah

1881 gold badge1 silver badge11 bronze badges

1 Comment

Chloride Cull Over a year ago

The question is about 401, not 404.

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