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Using GitHub CLI on your Device

This guide walks through installing the GitHub CLI (gh) on a device via the obacht web terminal, authenticating with a GitHub Personal Access Token, and cloning a private repository.

1. Open the Terminal​

Navigate to the device in obacht and confirm it is Online.

Device overview — online

Go to the Terminal tab and click Connect.

Terminal tab — Connect button

If your SSH key has a passphrase, enter it when prompted.

SSH key passphrase dialog

The terminal connects to the device via the obacht SSH gateway.

Connecting to SSH gateway

Once connected you have a full shell as the obacht user.

Terminal connected — shell prompt

2. Install the GitHub CLI​

Run the following command to update the package index and install gh:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install gh -y

Running the install command

apt fetches and installs the gh package. Installation takes about 30 seconds.

gh installation completing

3. Authenticate with GitHub​

Run gh auth login to start the interactive authentication flow.

gh auth login

What account do you want to log into? — select GitHub.com.

gh auth login — select GitHub.com

What is your preferred protocol for Git operations on this host? — select HTTPS.

gh auth login — select HTTPS

Authenticate Git with your GitHub credentials? — confirm with Y.

gh auth login — confirm Git credentials

How would you like to authenticate GitHub CLI? — select Paste an authentication token.

The "Login with a web browser" option requires a browser on the device and does not work headlessly. Use a token instead.

gh auth login — paste token selected

4. Create a Personal Access Token​

In a separate browser tab, go to github.com/settings/tokens and click Generate new token → Generate new token (classic).

GitHub — Personal Access Tokens page

Give the token a name, set an expiration, and check the repo scope. This grants full access to private repositories.

GitHub — New token form with repo scope

Scroll to the bottom and click Generate token. Copy the token immediately — GitHub will not show it again.

GitHub — Generate token button

5. Paste the Token​

Back in the terminal, paste the token at the Paste your authentication token: prompt and press Enter.

Terminal — pasting the token

gh validates the token and stores the credentials. You are now authenticated.

6. Clone a Private Repository​

Use gh repo clone followed by the repository name (or owner/repo for repositories outside your account) to clone it.

gh repo clone <repository-name>

Terminal — gh repo clone command

The repository is cloned into the current directory.

Terminal — clone completed

The clone is complete. You can now work with the repository directly on the device.