GitHub authentication

Public repositories

Public repositories can be copied without credentials. GitHub still applies unauthenticated API rate limits, so a token is useful for repeated downloads.

Environment tokens

pluck checks GH_TOKEN first, then GITHUB_TOKEN:

export GH_TOKEN=github_pat_...
pluck https://github.com/your-org/your-repo/tree/main/path/to/folder

The token is sent only to the GitHub API. Do not put it in a URL or commit it to a shell script.

GitHub CLI login

If neither environment variable is set, pluck runs gh auth token and uses the active account:

gh auth login
pluck https://github.com/your-org/private-repo/tree/main/folder

The gh fallback is convenient for local use. In CI, prefer an explicitly scoped GH_TOKEN.